The Spectrum of Emotions
by KaliAnn
Summary: Part 3 of 3rd season trilogy. Ever since Hawkmoth appeared the emotions of the citizens of Paris have run the gauntlet and back several times. As everyone struggles to keep their emotions in check, one person desires to unleash their hatred on the heroes and the city. Can the Emotion Miraculous Circle help the heroes stop the evil emotions of this threat?
1. Emotions

**Hi everyone. I'm back with the final part of the third season trilogy. Before we begin I have something to say. A few months I ago I got trolled by someone who left a shouting review describing my stories in not nice terms and degrading me. That is not constructive criticism and anyone who believes that is wrong. **

**I know I make mistakes. Some are because I copy and paste names from websites, other times my brain will put in a word in my head that I haven't actually written. Some reviewers have pointed out that I don't follow an established time line, or I shouldn't bring real world events into fanfiction, and a few other things.**

**I want to point out this is a fanfiction based on a cartoon. That means I don't always have to use cannon events, especially if I have established my own ideas after waiting forever to get cannon information. So once again I will reiterate that I'm using my original ideas for the CZMC and that I will follow the episode order to an extent due to most of third season being aired out of order. I also only bring in real world events to help make this story exciting no matter when it happened in the real world. **

**I hope that all my readers continue to send encouraging reviews and appreciate my hard work.**

* * *

Paris was a busy city, full of anger and fear. Love could either lead you to happiness or sadness. Many of its citizens were disgusted by Hawkmoth's actions and kept hoping that the heroes of Paris would eventually defeat him so their lives could go back to normal.

Humans were not meant to keep their feelings inside for months on end. They needed to be expressed and acknowledged otherwise they would turn inward and destroy the person who was feeling these emotions. It was especially difficult to keep your emotions in check when you were a child.

From babies to teenagers emotions were overwhelming. They lead to impulsive actions all the time. Other times the create defenses against others at a person's expense.

These days, businesses encouraged their employees to learn meditation, join therapy groups, and a personal favorite for many, smashing plates against the wall in a controlled environment. Anything that would help release emotions in a safe way.

Schools were also implementing new measures against bullying, having peer support groups, and making it mandatory that all students eventually talk to the guidance counselor. Teachers were required to take courses on handling class discipline, protecting victims from bullying, and also have their teaching style evaluated.

These new measures took time to implement and it was slow going in some schools. Especially in Collège Françoise DuPont. When it came to academics the school did provide quality education. The real problem lay with mostly the administration and teachers, who routinely forgot to follow proper procedure when it came disciplining students or making sure they were telling the truth when it came to providing proof to verify the paperwork in their file.

Mr. Damocles was an okay headmaster and had been improving in standing his ground when it came to the students and their parents. The problem was he still folded when he was confronted by wealthy students and failed to follow the proper procedure at times.

If he had done his research he would have known that Chloe's dad didn't have the power to shut down the school or prevent him from giving her detention and suspension for her actions. He would also have learned that he needed to take students' complaints when it came to bullying or if one of the teachers was abusing their power against the students seriously.

Ms. Bustier was a person who did just that. While her intentions were not malicious, her failure to act when someone broke the rules or committed serious acts, like cheating or vandalism, made it possible for many students to continue to get victimized. Her credence that the victims should forgive their bullies and "show" them how to be good was the correct way to control her class.

These actions had resulted in akumanzation, victims being penalized, and also interrupted class time putting the students behind in their education. If a student tried to get her to see she was acting in bad faith she would immediately give them detention for challenging her beliefs, as she had done with Marinette.

While she was getting better at actually doing her job, there were still times she defaulted back to her old ways. Hopefully, by the end of her new training courses, Ms. Bustier might become a better teacher.

Until all the changes had been fulfilled, Collège Françoise DuPont remained a hotbed of emotion for akumas to thrive on. Hawkmoth practically owned the school and could handpick whoever he wanted to cause trouble.

* * *

This is why all the Miraculous Wielders needed to work extra hard not to let their emotions rule them. It was a constant struggle to avoid being akumatized. Marinette and Adrien might be exempt now but that didn't mean their teammates were.

Luckily they had each other. Rose and Juleka stood by each other through the hard times. Alya and Nino were getting better at communicating with each other.

Alix and Kim were so busy challenging one another they didn't have time to be akumatized. Kagami reserved nature and her friends in class kept her from ending up akumatized again.

However, each of them had a trigger that would cause their emotions to spike. If they were alone when that spike happened then they were prey for Hawkmoth and Mayura to use in their twisted games.

At the moment, Ms. Bustier's class was having a mandatory counseling class. The new guidance counselor, Ms. Carvel, was teaching the class a technique for dealing with their emotional frenzy at a more appropriate time.

"It is important to remember there are a time and place to handle your emotions. If you start to feel overwhelmed by your emotions I want you to take a few deep breaths. Everyone breathe with me. In and out. In and out."

The class all took deep breaths. Letting the air fill their bodies before exhaling. They kept taking deep breaths until everyone was calm.

"Is everyone calm?"

"Yes, Ms. Carvel."

"Good. Once you're calm I want you to image your emotions are little people in your brain. They can look like anything you want. Once you have a clear picture in your mind then scoop them up and put them in a box. Can you do that?"

Most of the students closed their eyes and pictured tiny people or objects that represented their emotions. It was harder to picture a box to contain them all when there were so many different emotions.

"Once you filled the box close it in your mind and put it away somewhere until a later time when you are in a safe place to express those feelings. The only thing you should be feeling is calm and relaxed."

Marinette took a few deep breathes before closing her eyes. Once again she pictured herself in her soul room. She recalled it in startling detail considering her recent encounter last weekend with her counterpart Peridot Turtle.

She saw herself in her room holding another magic box, this one was rainbow-colored. Gripping it tightly she laid the box next to the jar containing the dead akuma. Cautiously, she left the soul room.

Opening her eyes, she saw Ms. Carvel working her way through the class helping her classmates visualize a place to put their emotions temporarily. Once everyone had finished the visualization exercise, Ms. Carvel started explaining when it would be a good time to open those boxes.

"While it might sound absurd one of the easiest ways to express and understand your emotions is to schedule a time for it. Myself, I schedule twenty minutes of my time where I think about my emotions and try to label them.

By labeling your emotions at a later time, you're able to make better decisions based on logic than you would if you acted impulsively with your emotions. "

The students started taking notes on the subject. There were many different ways to label emotions. You could assign numbers, colors, or even sounds to identify what emotion they were feeling and how strongly they were feeling it.

"Emotions are not truly positive or negative. All emotions can be helpful sometimes and harmful to others. It is how you react to those emotions that decides if you are feeling positive or negative.

If you're sad about losing someone you love that is a positive emotion. It only becomes a negative if you let it become all consuming. The same could be said about anger.

Anger is helpful when it gives you the energy to take a stand for a cause you believe in. It can be harmful if it encourages you to do or say things that hurt people.

Try to remember what is causing you to feel these emotions. Will they help you or hinder you as you try to make the best choice for you? Once you know that answer then you are ready to continue one with your day."

Rose raised her hand and Ms. Carvel pointed to her. "Are there ways to shift your feelings from negative to positive?"

"Yes, there are. Give yourself mini mood boosters. If you're sad, think of something that makes you happy and smile. If you're angry listen to music that will calm you down.

It is also important to let yourself feel a little discomfort. By that I mean, you shouldn't try to avoid having certain emotions. If you get embarrassed don't keep running from it. Acknowledge the feeling and accept it happened. If it happens again, remember you survived feeling it before and can do again."

The bell rang and it was time for Ms. Carvel to go talk with another class. Ms. Bustier came back in and asked for everyone to get their books out so they could get started on their history class.

* * *

In Master Fu's shop, he was beginning to feel the effects of his old age. His back was still giving him trouble and his bones were starting to ache a little more each day. Thankfully, his mind hadn't failed him yet.

"Master are you okay?" Wayzz asked his wielder. The man looked particularly exhausted and he had only seen one client today.

"I'm just a little under the weather. I think I might be getting a cold, but it is nothing to worry about. I have survived several colds before."

"Maybe you should start taking Vitamin C gummies. I read on the Internet that they help boost the immune system of the elderly. Did you know it's recommended that people of all ages take certain vitamins to remain in good health?"

"I did know that and perhaps I need to start taking some multivitamins once more. With the fight against Hawkmoth and Mayura still ongoing, I must remain as strong and as healthy as possible."

"It might also be a good idea for all active Kwamiis to take our version of vitamins to keep our strength. We need to remain as strong as possible."

Wayzz made a face. He knew the vitamins were essential to keep him healthy but he hated the taste almost as much as Plagg hated transforming. They simply tasted awful.

Seeing his face Master Fu chuckled. "I'm sure Marinette can find a recipe that will make your vitamins taste better. Look on the bright side old friend. You only need to take yours once a month. I have to take them every day."

* * *

Master Fu wasn't the only one feeling a bit under the weather. At the Agreste Mansion, Nathalie was trying to alleviate her symptoms. She coughed a few times then made her way to the bathroom to wash her hands.

She continued to cough along the way. Once in the bathroom, Duusu popped out of her wielder's pocket. "You need to stop using my Miraculous Nathalie. Unless it is repaired, using it is only going to make you sick."

"I can handle being a little sick. Besides, I could just use one of your healing feathers on myself."

The peafowl shook her head vigorously. "I'm sick as well Nathalie. Any feather we create would be contaminated. You would only make yourself sicker."

"Then it's a good thing modern medicine has advanced so far. I'll be fine," the assistant insisted. Nathalie ignored Duusu's exasperated expression knowing she was doing this to help an old friend.

As Duusu was forced to hide again she was deeply troubled by Nathalie's obsessive devotion towards Gabriel/Hawkmoth's unhealthy desires. Both of them were ignoring the consequences of their actions towards the city and themselves.

Nooroo and she had had several conversations on the topic. Her "brother" firmly believed that he could persuade his wielder to stop this madness if he kept trying to change him.

She wasn't certain it would be possible. As the Kwami of Healing, she could tell that neither Gabriel nor Nathalie were ready to let go of their fixation or accept the fact that Emile might never wake up again.

"It will take something drastic for my wielder to realize that her boss's yearnings are not worth her health," Duusu muttered to herself. The situation appeared to be getting even more weariness all the time.

Elsewhere in the mansion, the only person who didn't have a Miraculous was watching a superhero video on his phone. Ladybug and Chat Noir were heroic like their movie counterparts.

The distinction was in real life the two heroes had to win every time no matter what was happening, and unlike a movie, there was no guarantee that they would win or come home alive.

The public often failed to realize what was happening in their city was a reality and not make-believe. People could get hurt or worse die. Ladybug's inability to bring people shot to death by terrorists, with her Miraculous Ladybug power, was proof of that.

But no, they still acted as if her power would never fail. That everything would be right again at the end of the day. They didn't care that Chat Noir was extra careful not to touch anything living with his Cataclysm. Most of the public believed nothing would happen to them if they accidentally got touched by his power.

Gerald/Gorilla had observed enough attacks to know that Chat Noir was able to kill an akuma. If he could do that to a butterfly, then it was possible to hurt someone with his power.

Speaking softly to himself he said, "I can't keep Adrien safe all the time if I'm not allowed in the school except to drop him off and pick him up. The tracer I put in his bag didn't work. Tracking his phone is easy until he turns it off. What can I do to keep the boy safe even when I'm not there?"

He doubted a Kevlar vest would stop an Akuma. Not to mention he doubted the school would allow him to wear that under his clothes so he didn't accidentally start a panic. He also didn't trust the boy with a pocket knife. Carrying an actual blade and using it was very different from using a blunted foil against another person.

"Back to the drawing board. I will find a way to keep Adrien safe at all times."

* * *

In New York, Ning was in her bunker home preparing for her next peace mission. Yesterday, her superiors had explained to her that the ATS, (Antarctic Treaty System) office had run into some difficulties with coming up and implementing new measures to keep Antarctica from suffering from both environmental and politic problems.

Even with her photographic memory, she found it useful to review information to ensure that any changes were added to her memory. She took a book on different treaties over the years, from her library and settled into her living room to read.

The ATS regulated international relations concerning Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. For the treaty system, Antarctica is defined as all of the land and ice shelves south of 60-degree latitude.

The treaty entered into force in 1961 and currently has 54 parties. The treaty sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation, and bans military activity on the continent. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War. In September 2004, the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat headquarters was built in Buenos Aries, Argentina.

The main treaty was signed on December 1, 1959, and officially entered into force on June 23, 1961. The original signatories were the 12 countries active in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year of 1957–58.

The twelve countries that had significant interests in Antarctica at the time were: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, along with Chile, France, Japan, plus New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, and lastly the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

These countries had established over 55 Antarctic stations for the IGY. The treaty was a diplomatic expression of the operational and scientific co-operation that had been achieved "on the ice".

The treaty stated that Antarctica was to be a place of peaceful research and that any discoveries were to be shared with the other members of the scientific community on the continent.

Nuclear activity, mining, and any activity that would disrupt the environment was prohibited. The treaty also covered legal issues, disputes between countries with claims, and similar matters.

It was up to the ATS Secretariat to support the annual Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) and the meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP).

Facilitating the exchange of information between the Parties required in the Treaty and the Environment Protocol. Collecting, storing, arranging and publishing the documents of the ATCM. Lastly, Provide and disseminating public information about the Antarctic Treaty system and Antarctic activities.

The difficulty for the ATS was keeping up with the ever-changing political world. They also had to combat the growing and diverging human activities, such as tourism, bioprospecting, and illegal fishing in the waters around the continent.

It was important to create, implement, and strictly monitor the activity on the continent. To do this, it was important to figure out how to change the treaty in a way that was both fair and manageable.

Possible solutions included that the ATCPs should negotiate about the grounds on which jurisdiction can be based. Article Five of the treaty covered part of this, but it needed to be expanded.

However, this had the potential to tensions because of the situation concerning sovereignty, but with the growing human activity, the need to determine the grounds for jurisdiction also grows.

It was also important that the ATCPs should work together to create both civil and criminal law. They needed to do this for maritime law as well to tackle the illegal fishing problems.

"This is going to be a challenge. The ATCM is every May 25 to June 7th. Changes can only be made if there is a concessive agreement. I can see why the Security Council wants me to go down there.

If the treaty falls apart not only will Antarctica become free for all, but the first international peace agreement will dissolve showing the world that international peace is a pipe dream."

With my international heritage and understanding of cultural aspects, I can hopefully help with creating proposals that everyone will be able to agree on she thought to herself.

For this mission, she would take on the role of a junior member of the UN OLA from the treaty division. As a member of this office, it would be her responsibility to ensure that proper procedure was followed and double-check the paperwork for creating amendments to the ATS.

Her identity and background information had already been typed up and tomorrow she would assume the identity after her makeover. Right now she needed to pack.

The first item to pack was several woman style business suits. Next, she packed two simple, yet stylish dresses to wear when she went out in the evening. She also packed a light jacket and some casual shirts and pants for when she wanted to hit the streets of the city without drawing attention to herself.

Knowing how her missions sometimes took surprising twists, she also packed her winter gear hoping she wouldn't have to use it. She also decided to bring one of the new prototypes she was testing.

It was a newly designed signal booster that was being tested in Germany. Signal boosters were nothing new when it came to cell phones. This new booster was designed to boost the signal of military and private sector communications while preventing other signals, from intercepting classified information.

Germany wanted to see the full range of the booster's abilities, which was why the sent a prototype for her to test. With her job sending her all over the world, she could test the device in the field so they could make modifications to the device before presenting it to their superiors.

"Once I'm in Argentina, I'll test it when I communicate back to my superiors. Then I'll test it all around the city and also head into the mountains to see if a signal can still be reached. All the data I collect will be extremely helpful for the German tech company."

* * *

The next day after school, the teachers were in one of the bigger classrooms as they were reviewing how to handle bullies in the classroom. Ms. Mendeleiev was sitting next to Ms. Bustier with a pleased grin on her face.

"You might want to take extra notes for this one Caline. I know you still struggle with class discipline."

"I'll have you know I'm doing much better. I'm working hard not to fall back on my old methods."

Ms. Mendeleiev gave her a skeptical glance. She had known Caline for years and if it took Akumas showing up to get her to stop playing favorites, she honestly wondered what it would take for her to keep disciplining the right students causing trouble.

Ms. Bustier ignored her colleague's skepticism and returned to taking notes as the member of the school board, Madame Boutin, continued her lecture on the importance of recognizing and acting immediately to put an end to the bullying.

"It is important for all teachers to take claims of bullying seriously. Do not make excuses, such as saying this is part of growing up or a person is overreacting. Children's brains are growing and if they see no one taking them seriously it has damaging effects on their psyche and self-esteem.

If you see a student being bullied in the hallways, you need to get between them to block eye contact. I understand most of you would want to send bystanders away. However, it is highly recommended you don't do this.

Bystanders need to see you in an authoritative mode. If they see you are taking the situation very seriously it will send the message that you can be trusted to stand up for children being bullied. It is also recommended that the students should be separated and calm before getting both sides of the story in separate rooms."

Madame Boutin turned on her PowerPoint presentation and used her laser pointer to review things they needed to do when it came to bullies. "As you can see on this slide, you need to follow all these steps to prevent further bullying.

Enforce the school guidelines and the student must be punished immediately. It is also vital that you encourage the bystanders to intervene when they can to stop the situation from escalating."

There was a click and a new slide showed up. "Remember to follow up on any bullying by contacting the parents and telling your colleagues to keep an eye on the students to prevent repeat incidents."

Ms. Bustier finished writing the what-to-do list. Next up was the what- not- to-do list. She needed to pay attention to this. She _needed_ to learn why her methods hadn't been effective in the past.

The first item on the list to recognize that bullying was not the same as conflict. Bullying behaviors hurt everyone and by calling it simply a conflict she had been dismissing the real harm it caused.

It was a shock to Ms. Bustier to learn that peer mediation was not a good idea. Giving both parties an equal voice empowers the bully and make the bullied student feel worse. There was also no evidence that peer mediation stopped bullying.

There was evidence that showed that group treatment, such as anger-management and empathy-building with other bullies because it reinforced each other's bullying and antisocial behavior.

Madame Boutin cleared her throat and brought up another slide show. This one was titled, "How to Tell Parents Their Child is a Bully". "I'm sure each one of you has encountered this problem. Parents don't want to believe their child is bullying and instead blames the victims.

It can be difficult to get parents to stop being defensive and look at the situation unbiased. While it can be discouraging and at times make your job harder you can't give up. Especially if the situation continues to escalate.

Informing the parents helps them realize they might be showcasing bad behavior in front of their child. It will also help the parents figure out a plan for talking to their child and explaining to them why their behavior is wrong."

She gave each of the teachers' hard looks. "Remember, talking with the parents is the last resort. It should only be done if the situation doesn't change between your students after they've been given the tools to solve the problem themselves."

Ms. Bustier raised her hand. "How should we prepare for a conversation with a student's parents?"

Madame Boutin explained the steps to take. First, write down what you are going to say to the parents and practice your speech until you feel comfortable giving it.

Two, make sure to have the conversation in person and a calm environment. Always start the conversation by saying you want their help with the situation involving the kids.

Three, you don't want to use the word bully or bullying when talking to parents. It was a trigger word that would not help to communicate effectively with each other. Instead, you should focus on specific behaviors the teacher had witnessed. Explain why the child's behavior is considered wrong when they're at school.

Four, you need to listen carefully to each other. If the parents don't believe you because you're the child's teacher, then give them the number of another teacher who has also observed the same behavior to confirm that you are telling the truth.

The presentation was turned off and Madame Boutin dismissed the group, after giving a reminder to the teachers, to come back next week for another lesson on how to deal with bullying.

* * *

The next day Juleka was doing some primping. Marinette had said she wanted a model for her online store and Juleka was interested in getting the job.

"You look beautiful as always Juleka. How about you use this clip for your bangs," Luka suggested handing her a pink hair clip. He smiled at his sister when her whole face could be seen.

"You will be the perfect model for Marinette. Remember, if you get nervous just ask for a five minute break to calm yourself down."

She squeezed his hand and headed to school. On her way there she felt something land on her head. She reached up to brush whatever it was off when she heard a tiny and very familiar voice say hello.

"Honorra?" The goth girl was puzzled to see the kwami who floated down and settled in the crook of her neck. "Where did you come from?"

"That's a secret. I felt your emotions spiking and I picked up on something related to honor, a job you hoped to get. I decided I would visit you to make sure you got the job."

Juleka smiled and rubbed a finger over the magpie earning a musical tweet. She opened her bag and the little kwami flew inside to hide. She was taking a gamble by being so far away from her Miraculous.

Not to mention, if the Great Guardian ever discovered she went off on her own _again_ to visit her temporary wielder, she didn't want to imagine what her punishment was. It was why she had asked Wayzz to cover her for a few hours by pretending she was asleep.

I'm only going to be gone for part of the day. I'll make sure she gets the job and prevent her nerves from getting the better of her. Then, I'll go home. Nothing is going to go wrong Honorra told herself.

When Juleka arrived at the school she saw the girls surrounding Marinette, who was showing some pictures of her latest designs that she wanted to have modeled.

"I decided to play on the classic French look with a striped shirt and beret. At the same time, I wanted to make the outfits fresh and new with different accessories to highlight the look," Marinette explained to the girls.

"They're cute Marinette. I would buy that outfit. Maybe even two to give one to a friend!" Rose chirped. The other girls also complimented their friend's designs.

Juleka hesitated walking over unsure if she could do this. She looked down at her backpack and saw Honorra giving her an encouraging smile. Taking a deep breath she went over to her friends. "Hi everyone."

"Juleka, you look amazing. It's nice to see your whole face," Mylene told her.

"How long have you been hiding such a photographic face? I can't believe you ever had a photo curse," Alya remarked in awe.

Juleka smiled at locked eyes with Marinette. "I heard you were looking for a model for your online store. I wanted to ask if I could have the job. I've been interested in modeling for a while now."

"I think it would be incredible if you were my female model. Adrien's going to be the male one." Marinette bit her lip and looked past Juleka towards Chloe and Sabrina. The two friends were whispering quietly to one another. They occasionally looked over towards the group before ducking their heads back down. "Are you comfortable with Chloe and Sabrina doing your hair and makeup?"

Alix snorted, thinking Marinette was joking. When no one else laughed she gazed up at Marinette. "You're joking, right? Why are you letting them get involved with your store?"

"Chloe and Sabrina have been helping out more lately, remember? Chloe was there planting trees beside us. She is interested in becoming a makeup artist and wants to practice on someone.

Sabrina is thinking about becoming a stylist and also wants to practice. They both asked me, politely I might add, and I'm giving them a chance." Twisting her head away from Alix, Marinette once again focused on Juleka. "Are you still okay with modeling with them involved in the process?"

She was very wary of the two girls knowing how mean they had been in the past. Chloe and Sabrina had been doing a lot better lately and did seem genuine about helping out. Since she already accepted Chloe's apology she might as well give her a chance to practice putting makeup on someone else. "I'm okay with it."

Later that day, the girls were all crammed into Marinette's room as they prepared for the photo shoot. Juleka was sitting in Marinette's desk chair, her bag by her feet.

Honorra peeked out of the bag as she saw Chloe gently applied a light brown eyeshadow to highlight Juleka's copper eyes. Putting the eyeshadow down, the blond picked up a dark eyeliner and started lining the eyes and adding small swirls at the edges of the eye.

"This style will help you look more attractive to buyers and make them look closer at your accessories near your face like the beret and earrings you're going to wear," Chloe explained in one of her kinder tones. There still was a bit of arrogance to her tone, but it was getting less notable.

Sabrina was doing her best to braid part of Juleka's hair while the rest was held in a messy ponytail. It was a new style that was trending and she thought it would be fun to see Juleka in a different hairstyle.

"I'm not hurting you am I?" Sabrina asked with slight concern.

"No, it's just a really big change," Juleka said trying to keep her cool. The closer they got to the actual photo shoot, the more her nerves were getting to her. She was starting to second guess herself.

Finally, hair and makeup were done and they were on their way to the photo shoot. Honorra wished she could come out of hiding and help calm Juleka down, but it was not possible with the others around.

When the group arrived at the place for the photo shoot everyone left their bags in the car. Worried, Honorra phased through the car door and hurried over to where the girls and Adrien were setting up. She hid close by, keeping a watchful eye on her wielder.

Finally, the photo shoot was ready and Alya took a few pictures of Adrien and Marinette for the webpage. She then focused the camera on Juleka. The girl was shaking badly.

Rose noticed and went over to her friend. They whispered to each other and Juleka left the area for a few minutes to calm down. The little magpie flew closer to her to talk to her.

Something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She saw an akuma making its way towards her wielder, but what really frightened her was the feather accompanying it.

The feather was from the Peacock wielder and if it touched an object belonging to a person it would summon a protector based on the mental state of said person. It was a high level of power and only meant to be used to keep someone safe until the Peacock could get there to heal the person.

If Mayura was trying to use that ability while her Miraculous was broken then everyone would be in serious danger, include Mayura herself. She had to stop the feather from connecting with anything and hope that Juleka calmed herself down before the akuma could touch her.

Swiftly levitating through the air, she got in front of the feather and focused her energy. Her wings glowed brightly as she whispered, "Honor Guard." Out of nowhere tiny swords appeared all around the feather forming a cage preventing the feather from reaching anything.

The tiny swords slashed the feather into tiny bits. The remains floated on the wind, no longer a danger to anyone.

* * *

From down below she heard screaming and looked below to see Juleka, now Reflekta, zapping everyone and turning them into exact copies of her. It appeared that Hawkmoth had upgraded her power. Objects she hit transformed to match her color scheme.

She aimed her mirror at the cars and changed them all into gaudy Model T's. Reflekta zapped the street expecting it to change. She seemed as surprised as everyone else when the street exploded sending the cars flying in multiple directions.

Honorra was horrified when she felt a strong pull towards one of the cars followed by extreme pain. Had her "cousins" been in Adrien's car?! She darted in the direction and hoped Tikki and Plagg weren't hurt.

Tikki and Plagg had the wind knocked out of them and were counting their blessings they hadn't been hurt. They were now searching the spilled contents of the trunk looking for their Miraculous.

"I knew it was a bad idea for our wielders to remove their Miraculouses. I should have been more insisted"

"Sugar Cube, no one could have foreseen this. The kids thought it would just be twenty minutes so they could get all the pictures they needed for the website."

"Are you two okay?!" Tikki and Plagg looked up in surprise to see Honorra.

"What are you doing here…?" Tikki started to say when Plagg shouted he had found his Miraculous.

"Did you see Adrien on your way over?" he asked frantically. The magpie shook her head and pointed back towards where the car had been parked. "He's probably someone near there looking for you."

"Join me when you can Sugar Cube!"

Honorra joined Tikki as they looked through the spilled contents trying to find the little bug's Miraculous. Finally, the found them under all the bags of stuff. A high pitched squeal caught their attention. Honorra's jaw dropped at what she was seeing.

Reflekta was blasting the ground away as she fought the wielder of the Black Cat Miraculous. The only thing different was that the wielder was female.

Her hair was short, loose, and wavy. Her cat ears were black and gray. The tunic she wore was black and split into a neon green skirt with black tights underneath. Her sleeves were black and ended in gray colored paw gloves and the same with her feet. Her tail was black with a tiny red ribbon and it matched the collar around her neck.

"Chat Noire, of course, that's what she was thinking when she got the ring," Tikki muttered. She didn't seem nearly as surprised as she should have been with her wielder using the wrong Miraculous.

"What are you talking about?" the magpie demanded when a Reflekta clone scurried over, nearly tripping on his platform shoes. "Ugh, I hate these shoes!"

"We don't have time for complaints Adrien. You need to stop Reflekta now!" Tikki asked as she quickly put the earrings on the transformed boy. The boy called out the transformation phrase and in a blink of an eye, he changed.

He was wearing a red bodysuit with tiny black spots covering his extremities. Attached at the shoulders was red and black spotted cape which was shaped like a ladybug wing.

"Hope I can pull off being Conchillian," the hero muttered. He twirled the yo-yo and let it fly. It wrapped around a column and he was dragged off his feet as the string rewound itself.

Not understanding what was going on, Honorra hurried after the boy to see if she could help in some way.

Chat Noire ran faster than she had ever before. She was used to swinging through the skies and it shocked how much faster she was on the ground. Her enhanced hearing gave her only a split second warning before the sidewalk she had been on exploded behind her.

She fell forward and her cat-like agility had her plant a hand then twist her body sideways slightly before getting her feet under her to stand up once more. "That is the cat's meow," she whispered to herself.

"Try on my special look!" Reflekta shouted. She shot out another blast. Chat Noire managed to dodge, but the column behind her transformed into a statue of Reflekta.

At that exact moment, Conchillian smacked into the statue and dropped on top of Chat Noire. They both ended up in a tangle of limbs and Conchillian managed to push them apart before they got zapped.

Both heroes got back on their feet. They slowly circled Reflekta looking for an opening. Chat Noire extended her baton intending to strike the Akuma in the small of her back.

Reflekta jumped up and spun around to fire at Chat Noire when she was yanked downward. Conchillian had used the baton as a springboard to get enough height to wrap the yo-yo around the Akuma's chest to stop her from aiming at Chat Noire.

Reflekta zapped the ground below her. The flash of light blinded the two heroes. Feeling the slack in the string, the Akuma wiggled free. Looking around she saw both heroes were gone. "Come out wherever you're hiding. It will be fun to model your Miraculouses for Hawkmoth!"

Hiding behind the Reflekta statue the two heroes finally were able to catch their breath. "Should we switch our Miraculouses back now?"

"No time Conchillian. The longer Reflekta is allowed to roam, the more people could get hurt. We have to remember some part of us knows how to use these abilities to their fullest. Try using Lucky Charm and see what you get."

"Lucky Charm!" A round mirror landed in his hands. "Maybe I could use it to reflect her power to her? No, that wouldn't be helpful at all. What do I do?"

"Look around and see what pops in your vision."

Conchillian did and his vision highlighted the mirror and his partner. Taking a quick peek and saw Reflekta highlighted. His attention was then drawn upward when he saw something small heading over to them.

It was Honorra and she was highlighted as well. He put it all together and knew what they had to do. "Honorra, get down here quick. I know how we can stop Reflekta."

Reflekta growled as she circled the staircase once more. She knew in her gut the two heroes were hiding somewhere nearby. "Where are you two hiding?"

She winced as she heard Hawkmoth's voice in her head. "Stop standing around and get me those Miraculouses," he hissed in her ear.

"I will Hawkmoth hold on," the Akuma muttered. Looking around she saw something shiny at the top of the staircase. Grinning she walked up the steps getting ready to zap someone.

Getting to the top of the stairs she was surprised to see a mirror lying against a sign. She picked it up and said, "What in the world?"

That's when she spotted the swords coming at her from behind her on course to impale her. Startled she spun around to zap them when Chat Noire tackled the Akuma to the ground and destroyed the mirror bracelet with Cataclysm.

Conchilian caught the akuma and purified it before restoring things to normal. The two heroes pounded their fists before hurrying off so they could get back their original Miraculouses.

* * *

After the photo shoot, Marinette took Honorra back to Master Fu's. Both knew he was going to be upset with the little kwami for running off again. This was a bad habit that needed to be broken.

Upon entering the residence, Honorra kept her head down and started apologizing. "I'm very sorry, Great Guardian. I'm trying to control the urge not to wander off and I failed you."

"Honorra, look at me please," Master Fu instructed her gently. She did and was surprised to see the seven Kwamiis of the Emotion Miraculous Circle were hovering slightly over the old man.

Zippy had a long, thin, and red body with transparent green dragonfly wings on his back. Stella had pointy purple bat ears and the wings membrane stretched across her arms while the rest of her was brown. Jill had the grabby hands and tail of an opossum while the rest of her body was white and gray.

Arron wrinkly grey skin with two white horns on top of his head and a tiny tail on his back. Sunny greatly resembled a spotted skunk with three wisps of hair on her head. Prickker had several tiny golden colored spines on his backside and the rest of his body was light brown.

Lastly, Flapper legs and tiny arms were silver in color with light pink feathers over the rest of his body. The entire Emotion Miraculous Circle seemed in awe of the modern world found in Master Fu's apartment.

Marinette raised her eyebrows at the old man. "So we're dealing with helping the Emotion Miraculous Circle understand the modern world now?"

Master Fu nodded and added with their help it might assist in creating fewer targets for Hawkmoth and Mayura. Maybe even find them as well. This adventure had just taken a sudden peripeteia.


	2. Sadness

**I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas who celebrates it. If you don't then Happy Hanukkah and Joyous Kwanzaa. **

**I will be using my original idea for the Snake Miraculous in this chapter. I hope you like it. Also, Vivica has been aged up a little so she's the age of a second-year university student.  
**

* * *

Arriving in Buenos Aires, the noises and the smells bombarded Iria Santos aka Peace Keeper as she exited the airport. The city was always lively and today was no exception.

Hailing a cab, Ms. Santos thought it would be best to go to the Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty office first. She wanted to get to know the permanent staff at the office because she would be working with them directly to help them.

Arriving at the office, Iria noticed how plain it seemed on the outside. It was a simple building with a black entrance way and was squished between two other buildings.

Walking inside and taking the elevator to the fourth floor, she saw the huge glass plaque displayed for all to see. The name of the office was written in four different languages. At a desk near the front sat the office manager Vivana Collado.

"Greeting. I am Iria Santos from the UN OLO from the treaty division. I was told that you would be expecting me," she said in perfect Spanish.

Ms. Collado nodded in conformation. "Executive Secretary Lluberas is busy with a very important phone call. If you will take a seat over there, I'll let him know you're here.

Ms. Santos thanked her and took a seat. She looked around the office and was pleased by how orderly and inviting the office was. The support staff was helping the other members carry out their duties.

About twenty minutes later she was told that Executive Secretary Lluberas was ready to see her. She entered his office and was pleased by how inviting it was.

"Greetings Ms. Santos. Please take a seat. I am curious to know more about you. I was surprised when I heard you were coming. I make sure that everyone here follows proper procedure and that all the paperwork is taken care of," he asserted.

"We know that your office does follow the law perfectly. We also know that your office is planning several proposals to both the ECP and ATCM committees and if ratified, you understand that my office will be in charge of approving any changes to the treaty."

"Of course Ms. Santos. However, none of these proposals have yet to be written and is a long way from being ratified. This is why I don't understand your presence here at this time."

"My superiors believe it is never too early to help someone out. I'm simply here to help your office with writing up these proposals to make sure they can be approved by my office at a future date.

It will cut down the time and paperwork that would be needed in making any changes to the treaty effective. I can also assist in making sure the wording of the proposals is precise and no one can find any loopholes to circumvent the rules set by the treaty."

The Executive Secretary thought about what she said and had to agree. It took a long time to add amendments designed to help promote changing the treaty. Having a member of the Treaty Division helping out would make it a little easier.

"I believe we have much to discuss Ms. Santos. Shall we begin?"

"Gladly. I would like to familiarize myself with the permanent staff here before I begin my assignment. Does that work for you?"

E.S. Lluberas agreed and alerted the other permanent staff members to assemble in the conference room in ten minutes for a short meeting. Once in the conference room Ms. Santos took a look at everyone and tried to gauge their behavior to determine how well they would get along.

She was introduced to the Assistant Executive Secretary, Mr. Wydler, Information Officer Mr. Agraz, and Editor Wainschenker. There was also the Financial Officer Mr. Fennell, Communication Specialist Ms. Balok, and lastly, the IT Specialist Mr. Papaserge.

"It is nice to meet all of you. I look forward to our short time working together. Hopefully, by the time my assignment is over, you will have perfected the proposals to proper parties at the annual ATCM.

It would be wonderful if these proposed amendments could be passed and ratified. The future of an entire continent is depending on this office and the ability to communicate what's best for it is to have all parties understanding one another so it has a future."

They would begin their work tomorrow after Ms. Santos had a chance to settle down in her hotel room for the duration of this assignment. Once the room was secure Iria decided to take a hot bath.

It hadn't even been one day and already this assignment was proving to be a challenge. With such a small staff she would have to be extra diligent she didn't slip up by either giving the wrong biographical details or make anyone uncomfortable because there was only one person for each job.

"I hope tomorrow will go smoother than today," the agent said to herself as she sank into the hot bath and relaxed.

* * *

At the Grand Paris Hotel, Jagged Stone was in the middle of an argument with Vivica, his new bandmate. She was a pretty woman with short chocolate brown hair that angled over one eye. Her eyes were the same color as her hair and she had a beauty mark on her face. The most obvious part of her looks was her braces. She wore a nice rock and roll outfit.

Back when Jagged was in university he and Anarka Couffaine had been band mates. They had split up after graduation to follow their pursuits in life. Eager to have a partner again, Jagged had recently contacted her offering her a job as his backup guitarist. She was thrilled to be working with Jagged, despite his dramatics.

That was not the case today. "You are being ridiculous Jagged! We're sharing the suite which means we're sharing everything in it, including the food!" Vivica snapped at him.

"I bought that cereal for myself! I even wrote my name on it! Why did you have to eat the whole box?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because it's one of the foods that doesn't get stuck in my braces so easily. I told you about that when you went on the grocery run for all of us."

"Well, I forgot okay? Even if I did remember, you still shouldn't have eaten something with my name on it."

"Grow up Jagged! We are both adults' not little kids. If you think I'm going to stand here being yelled at for something stupid then you're wrong! When I get back you better have grown up!"

Vivica grabbed her guitar case and stormed out of the room angrily. Why did rock stars have to be so dramatic? It was a sad thing when your idol broke the image you had of them. If putting up with someone this childish was part of breaking into the music industry then maybe she should rethink her career plans.

She went down towards the Seine and sat on a bench. As she strummed her guitar she was still fuming and sad about the stupid argument. So she missed seeing the akuma that flew into her guitar.

"Desperada, I am Hawkmoth. You're angry about being treated so poorly by the musician you admired. I can give you the power to get back at him. All I ask is you retrieve Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculouses for me."

"You're playing my song, Hawkmoth." Purple and black smoke covered her body before bursting away revealing Desperada. She now resembled a like a skeleton from a Día de Los Muertos festival wearing a mariachi outfit. Two musical notes covered both sides of her cheeks. She had a star-shaped guitar case that she carries on her back.

She went over to the Seine to see her new look. "Well, now I'm a rock star. I hope Jagged likes my new look. Ha ha ha!" she jumped onto the street level and went looking for the man.

At the _Liberty_, the class and Kagami had gathered to watch Kitty Section's band practice. At the moment, Ivan was practicing for his big drum solo. He was picking up the pace as he got closer to the end of the solo.

"He's been practicing hard for his solo. He's amazing isn't he?" Mylene gushed. She watched as Ivan finished his solo by using the foot pedal to strike the large middle drum. Mylene jumped up and cheered.

Ivan blushed at his girlfriend's praises. "I think I did alright."

"You did more than alright. You've never sounded better than you did just now," Luka informed the boy. Ivan grinned happily to hear such a compliment from Luka.

In the crowd, Kagami was sitting next to Chloe. This was the first time both of them had attended a practice session. Kagami watched impassively as the blond took out her earplugs.

"I thought you were here to support your classmates."

"I am doing that, but rock and roll music is so loud I felt like my eardrums would pop. Thankfully, Sabrina remembered to bring me some earplugs." Noticing that the fencing girl's gaze hadn't broken Chloe added, "I'm trying to change, but I don't think I can get rid of my dislike of this music overnight."

Back with the band, Luka was getting ready to practice his solo when Jagged, Penny, and Fang showed up in their crazy van. "Rock and roll everyone! I wasn't expecting so many fans to be here."

The kids gasped and then fell over when Anarka stormed out of the cabin and slammed the door with great force. "What in the name of all the seven seas are _you_ doing here Jagged? I thought I told you to scram the last time you showed up here unannounced!"

The Couffaine siblings looked at one another wondering what their mother was talking about. They hadn't seen Jagged around the _Liberty_ before. All they could do is watch the horror playing out before them.

"Don't tell me you're here for my guitar skills. I told you I'm not interested in jamming with you again. Besides, I thought you had a new guitarist to work with."

Penny slapped her hand over Jagged and spoke quickly. "We do have a new guitarist. She's extremely talented, but she and Jagged had a minor tiff this morning and were wondering if she came here? She's a big fan of yours Anarka."

Penny showed the group Vivica's picture and they all shook their heads. Anarka rolled her eyes and demanded to know what stupid thing was Jagged melting down over.

She never got a response a yellow beam of light zapped Anarka and she vanished. Everyone gasped and started looking frantically around for her attacker.

"Up here you wannabees," a voice drew their attention up to a street lamp. Desperada was standing there aiming a trumpet at the group. "I knew Jagged would come here to find his old friend. How she put up with his dramatics I'll never know. Must have been a drama queen as well."

Juleka saw red and cried out, "Hey! That was my mom you just zapped! I don't know what your problem is, but never call her a drama queen!"

Desperada barely glanced at Juleka. "Ugh, I'm so tired of having to deal with childish actions. Maybe I should play you all a lullaby!" Everyone scattered in different directions as the Akuma started firing her trumpet at everyone.

She quickly nailed Jagged, Penny, and Fang before zapping Kagami and Kitty Section, save for Luka. Desperada laughed with joy and jumped onto the street. Her trumpet changed into bike horns as she started to stroll through the streets zapping everyone in her way.

Ladybug appeared on the scene. "Hey, I don't play an instrument, but maybe you'll humor me and my yo-yo." She flicked her weapon out and managed to take out one horn before creating a shield to block a rapid-fire attack.

Adrien could do nothing but watch. Luka had caught him before he had a chance to transform and they were hiding as his girlfriend scrambled to get away. Desperada weapon had changed again, this time a battle ax shaped guitar.

"Time to cut you part from this performance." Desperada sliced her weapon through the air. Ladybug ducked just in time as the car behind her cleaved in two. She took another swing and this time sliced the street in half.

"Where's Chat Noir? Shouldn't he be here helping her?" Luka asked in calm, but fearful for her. "Ladybug's heart song is beating out of rhythm. She needs her partner."

The word rhythm caused Adrien's eyes to widen. He recalled something he read during one of his training sessions with Master Fu. There was one Miraculous that could really help them out.

First things first. "We need to do something to help until Chat Noir arrives. Think you can distract the Akuma long enough for me to get away so I can go find Chat Noir?"

Luka nodded as he went out and started strumming a song to distract Desperada. Adrien took off running as fast as he could. Once he found a place to hide he transformed and hurried to the Guardian's home.

* * *

Master Fu was explaining the importance of the EMC to keep their personalities in check in the modern world when the door opened revealing a panting Adrien.

"Master Fu, there's an Akuma out there whose powers are more than Ladybug and I can handle. I need to borrow the Snake Miraculous please."

"Understood Adrien. I'll be right back with it. I hope you have someone in mind to use it."

Back at the battle, Desperada was on top of the Eiffel Tower. Her weapon was now a trombone that could strike targets far away. "Come on out Ladybug. I just want your earrings to seal a deal."

Hawkmoth's mask glowed over her eyes. "Don't forget to keep an eye out for Chat Noir. They're planning something I'm sure of it."

In the sewers, Luka watched as Ladybug paced back and forth. The heroine thanked him for causing a diversion and helping her when a smoke attack disoriented her.

Ladybug could feel her anxiety starting to grow. She took a few deep breaths and pictured the box for her emotions in her mind. She took a few more deep breaths and managed to put away her emotions for now. Standing up straight she looked over at Luka. "I'm sorry about that. I should have done that in private. I hope you don't think less of me for having an anxiety attack."

"No need to apologize. Everyone gets anxious and your heart song has lowered its volume. Who taught you to meditate?"

"A friend. They once told me I have to find peace within myself so I don't let my anxiety get to me. Sometimes that's hard to do," the spotted heroine admitted as she rubbed her arms together.

Luka knew what she meant. He was genuinely a calm and relaxed person who moved with the flow. That didn't mean he didn't get anxious before a performance. It took a lot of work to keep your anxiety in check, especially if you were a superheroine in Paris.

Ladybug's yo-yo rang and she opened it up quickly. It must have been a text from Chat Noir because she held out her hand to Luka and asked him to follow her. The two of them made their way through the sewer system.

Chat Noir tapped his foot as he gripped the box in his hands tightly. This was the second time he would be presenting a Miraculous to someone. Kim might think he got his Miraculous from the hero, but that had all been Master Fu.

He looked down the tunnel and was happy to see Ladybug and Luka coming around the corner. "My Lady, I'm so glad you're safe!" He reached out and hugged her tightly.

"I am thanks to Luka. Did Desperada spot you at all?"

Chat shook his head and said he stuck to the ground level and went into the sewers when he saw something glittering off the Eifel Tower. That's when he sent the message for her to come to him.

Breathing in deeply, Chat stepped around his partner and held out the box to Luka. "Luka Couffaine, this is the Snake Miraculous and has the power of Rhythm. You will use this Miraculous to assist in defeating Desperada. Once the mission is complete you will return this to me and never speak of what happened to anyone. Do you agree?"

Luka nodded. "I'm good at keeping secrets." He took the box and opened it. A brief flash of green light and Sass appeared. He looked into Luka's eyes and smiled.

"My name is Sass and I feel our rhythms coming together. A musician such as yourself will be an excellent wielder of my Miraculous." He waited for Luka to put on the bangle before continuing.

"To activate my Miraculous you need to say Slither Forward. Your weapon is a lyre which you can use to activate your power Tuning. It will cause the target to sync up with your rhythm and do whatever you do. Once you use my power you'll only have five minutes before you change back. Any questions?"

Luka shook his head and calmly called out, "Sass, Slither forward!" The magic quickly covered him and when it vanished he looked at his reflection in the water.

He was wearing a black, teal, and cyan-colored suit. The shape of the suit made him slender and muscular. The material looked like a snake texture with his chest and abdomen resembling the underbelly of a snake. His eye mask was cyan. His eyes and hair were now green.

"You look great as a superhero. So, you have a name for new skin?" Chat joked.

"Viperion." The partners nodded in agreement and the three of them started planning how on how to stop Desperada. They would only get one chance to take her down so their teamwork had to be flawless.

Desperada was getting impatient and was contemplating whether she should just sniper attack everyone when she was shoved from behind and fell to the ground below. Picking herself up, she changed her weapon to the bike horns and formed a smokescreen around herself.

"If they can't see me then they won't know where to attack," the Akuma reasoned to herself. She changed her weapon again, this time to her battle ax guitar. Adjusting her stance she was ready to attack.

She heard the sound of footsteps coming from her right so she swung her weapon through her smokescreen. She didn't connect with anything. Then she heard the footsteps coming from the left and she swung her weapon there, but again, nothing.

She kept hearing the footsteps and swinging her weapon only for it to never connect with anything. Soon her smokescreen was gone and she found herself staring straight at Viperion.

"Another wannabee? Not for long!" she brought up her weapon and started bringing it down on top of him.

"Tuning!" Viperion strummed a tune on his lyre and the musical notes appeared in the air. The traveled over to Desperada and swirled around her freezing her in place.

"What the heck? Why can't I move?" she grumbled. Still looking at the new hero, she felt her body sync up with his as she mirrored his moves.

Viperion lowered his arms to his side and turned left before walking five steps towards a waiting Ladybug. She had conjured her Lucky Charm earlier and she quickly used the horse saddle to pin the villainess arms to her sides.

Desperada tried to struggle and found it was no use. As long as Viperion remained motionless with his arms by his side, she couldn't do anything. She could only watch as Chat used his powers to destroy her guitar. "NO!"

The akuma flew into the air and was quickly captured by Ladybug. After purifying it and restoring everything to the way it was before, she went to comfort Vivica. The young woman had tears on her face.

"Are you okay miss?" She hadn't seen many victims crying after their akumanzation before.

"I'm sniff fine sniff Ladybug. I'm just saddened with myself sniff. I was so cheerful when Jagged Stone picked me…sniff… to be his new guitarist. I always wanted to play with him and sniff…sniff…and when I finally meet my idol and stay in the same hotel as him sniff…he turns out to be a bit of a drama queen."

Viperion placed a reassuring hand on Vivica's shoulder. She looked at the new hero and felt herself calm down as he spoke to her in a gentle tone.

"Everyone gets sad when they realize the people they admire don't live up to their expectations. The important thing to remember is you can still live up to your expectations of yourself."

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Vivica thanked the young hero for his kind words. Hearing the beeping of their Miraculouses, the heroes said goodbye and headed off pleased with another job well done.

* * *

It was time for dinner at Master Fu and he was serving everyone their favorite foods tonight. After serving Wayzz and Honorra their regular dishes he passed out the other small dip dishes filled to the brim.

"For Zippy, here's some buttered popcorn." The kwami smacked his lips and started eating happily.

"Stella, Jill, here are your mustard seeds and potato chips." Stella ate in a dainty manner while Jill stuffed her mouth with three chips at once.

"A salt lick for Arron and a small bit of alphabet soup for Sunny." Arron attacked his meal as Sunny studied each letter before eating it.

"Lastly, some broiled cauliflower for Prickker and some shrimp for Flapper." Prickker took a few sniffs before starting to eat his cauliflower. Flapper slurped down her shrimp.

"Remember your manners everyone. Dinner time is meant to be a pleasant experience."

The Kwamiis realized they had been rude by not waiting for Master Fu to serve himself and stopped eating at once. Once the Great Guardian had his plate full they resumed eating their food.

"Guardian Fu, I have a question. Will we be interacting with the humans of this city?" Zippy hopefully asked.

"Perhaps. It will depend on if the circumstances warrant it. These are troubling times and Hawkmoth and Mayura are getting stronger each day. There have been close calls where our enemy nearly discovered other active Kwamiis."

"It is best if we stay here together," Wayzz explained.

"If you get a case of wanderlust, then you'll have a good time with Marinette or Adrien, when you get to go home with them for a few days," Honorra quickly added.

Hearing this, the "siblings" started to talk amongst themselves who would be the first in line to step out in the modern world. It soon became a huge squabble with emotions literally running high.

Stella argued she should go first because she was the most adventuress of the group. Sunny scoffed saying that Stella always got to go first with new things. Arron demanded to be the first to go out.

Flapper was trying to gather support for herself. Since they were in Paris, she should be allowed out first because it was the City of Love. Prickker wasn't interested in going out of the house just yet.

Zippy flew around in the air in bliss from hearing they would get to go outside. Jill was hanging back looking upset as her "siblings" continued to fight. It made her very sad to see them arguing.

Master Fu cleared his throat bringing an end to the arguing. "May I remind you once more about the importance of keeping yourselves in check while you're awake?"

The Kwamiis felt embarrassed. They were the literal embodiment of each emotion and since Hawkmoth preyed on emotions, they couldn't let him discover them or the last Great Guardian.

"You'll all have a chance to be out in the world for a day at the most, but until you settle down and show me your best behavior, I can't trust you around our young wielders."

The Kwamiis settled down and finished eating their dinner. Afterward, they watched a movie on TV. It was a kid's movie based on a bunch of toddlers getting into mischief all over Paris and there was a big green dinosaur in it.

They all enjoyed the movie a lot and afterward were very sleepy. Soon everyone was in bed sound asleep as well as the Great Guardian. It wasn't until one in the morning that anyone stirred.

Jill opened her eyes and looked around to make sure everyone else was asleep. Everyone was breathing steadily and no one was getting up. Even Stella seemed content to sleep the night away.

Quietly, she pulled herself out of the tissue box bed that had been made for her. Using her grabby limbs she managed to hall herself up to an old window near the back door and climb out undetected.

"At least this way I don't leave behind a magical imprint on where I've been like phasing through stuff does." Getting on the ground, the little kwami raced across the ground, only levitating when she needed to cross the streets.

At last, she reached the Grande Paris Hotel. The Great Guardian had told them what happened during the fight with the Akuma after Adrien returned the Snake Miraculous.

After hearing the story, Jill knew she couldn't wait until it was her turn to be out in public to speak to Vivica. So she had come over in the middle of the night when no one was around to see what she could do to help.

Upon entering the suite, Jill gave a nervous look at Fang. The crocodile was lying upside down on the couch snoring away. Hopefully, he had a big meal and wasn't hungry for opossum.

Deciding not to take a chance, she levitated into the air and headed into Vivica's room. The young musician was rolling around in her sleep trying to find a more comfortable position.

"I can feel her sadness even when she's asleep. She's thrilled to still be the new guitarist for Jagged Stone and happy she's no longer an Akuma. Underneath that all is the sadness of losing her innocence to the music industry," Jill whispered to herself as she struggled not to cry.

Blinking the tears away, she looked around and spotted Vivica's guitar. The object that had caused her akumanzation. Even with the object itself cleansed, the memories surrounding that object couldn't be forgotten as easily.

"A source for expressing a person's emotions should not be tainted by evil," Jill stated softly. She floated over and touched the instrument with one hand. "Teardrops."

Tiny little teardrops fell over the strings, strumming a soft tune. Satisfied, that her job was done, the kwami slipped away into the night. Jill didn't realize that Vivica had opened one eye when the tune played and saw the kwami. Pushing herself out of bed she wrapped a bathrobe around herself. Then the young guitarist picked up her instrument and tiptoed out the suite and up to the roof.

Settling in a lounge chair she strummed a few notes. The strings glistened for a few seconds. She strummed a few more and she felt her sadness coming to the surface of her mind.

She started to play random notes forming a song out of her sadness. The strings continued to glisten and soon she found words to express her sadness over being disappointed by meeting her idol.

As she played she wondered what the little creature had done to the guitar to make her play like this. What she didn't know was the music was all from within her.

Teardrops were the power to give a voice to what was making a person sad. By using it on a musical instrument, Jill had given Vivica a way to express her emotions to the world.

I have never played this good before. I can hardly wait to write lyrics to the song and perform it. I know Jagged would be thrilled to help me Vivica thought to herself. She didn't know that that strange creature had been and sent out a silent thank you to it for helping her.

* * *

It was a new day in Buenos Aries and Ms. Santos was already working hard with E.S. Lluberas to determine the five top proposals which should be presented at the next meeting.

"As you can see we have several ideas for the EPA to consider. Each proposal draft addresses a separate environmental concern. The ones in the left pile are the ones that would be the most beneficial and the most expensive to implement.

The pile on the right are proposals that will somewhat beneficial and would cost less to implement. I suggest that we focus on these proposals because they will be more likely to pass then the more expensive ones."

Ms. Santos looked over each one carefully. She studied the facts presented and also the solutions to make the proposals a reality. She reviewed the budget and time it would take to implement the amendment.

"Most of these proposals are sound and could be passed. However, they also need to be more specific in the details to explain exactly how the amendment will be beneficial to the treaty.

I also recommend a little more proofreading and a comprehensive conclusion." Sorting through the proposals she took four of them out of the right pile and one out of the left.

"These five are the most promising of the proposals. I fully support the proposal for more research to be done on climate change while minimizing the amount of activity on the continent."

E.S. Lluberas was pleased to hear this. Climate Change was an important matter and they needed to study it now before the point of no return. He was certain that the EPA would agree it was important, but getting the approval of all the parties involved would be challenging.

Ms. Santos also agreed that stricter regulations were needed to prevent the transfer of invasive species and plants in the ecosystem. She had read about a recent success in the removal of invasive species.

The sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia was declared rat and mouse free in early 2018, 250 years after they were first accidentally introduced by passing ships. The native ground-nesting birds had long since been banished to a few outlying islands the rats could not reach

With the rodents gone, the birds had already returned to the main island in what was the world's biggest project of its kind. If they could do this with rodents, then she had no doubt they could get rid of the other invasive species.

The other three proposal ideas for the EPA included improved regulations for tourism to cut down the number of humans who came. The less human activity the better.

The second one dealt with preventing future mining of minerals, oil, and gas. While banned, for now, the treaty would be renewed fully in 2048. They needed to prevent this from happening in the future.

The last proposal was about dealing with the impact the infrastructure was having on the continent. The construction of buildings and roads were harmful to the icy world. Also, an increased activity could eventually lead to an increase in the global warming effect.

"The EPA will be impressed once the proposals have been formally written for presentation. My concern now is how these proposed amendments can be accepted by all the parties involved in the treaty."

E.S. Lluberas knew what she meant. Treaties are complex pieces of paperwork and each member of the treaty needed to work together. Tensions between countries and pressure from major businesses to start plundering the continent for its valuable resources also caused problems.

The point was if they were going to keep governments who cared more about profit than peaceful and environmental conscious research than any amendments needed to propose sounded more profitable than any resources the continent offered.

"Do you have any suggestions?"

"At the moment, no. I would like to take these proposals and review them with A.E.S. Mr. Wydler. You're a busy man and as you said, these are just drafts. Hopefully together, we can make these proposals stronger before typing them up."

* * *

In France, Lila was getting ticked off with her family. Not only had the removed the door from her room and replaced it with a flimsy curtain, but they were also installing cameras in her bedroom.

"This is an invasion of privacy! I'm entitled to have a place that's my own and you need to ask to come into!" She was stomping her feet and waving her arms all of the place throwing a fit.

Vino's eyes narrowed his eyes as he walked over to her and hissed at her to stop throwing a temper tantrum this second. "You're a fourteen-year-old girl, not a two-year-old toddler. Try acting your age for a change Lila. There are consequences for your actions. If you carry on to act like this I have no problem with putting you in timeout permanently. "

This stunned the girl. Her father had never indicated that he would send her to _jail_ before. "You would have me arrested for crying about the unfairness I'm dealing with?"

"No, I would have you arrested on the charges that you are a danger to yourself and your family if you keep acting like this." The man paused as he looked at his daughter trying to find the right words to get through to her.

"Your mom and I don't want to take away your privacy, but your actions have caused several and very serious difficulties for our family. You've broken our trust twice Lila for no other reason than you think you deserve better."

"I do! I'm vastly superior to other people. I'm smart, cultured, and charismatic. It's not my fault there are so many idiots in the world who don't recognize a sales pitch."

Vino looked ready to slap his daughter for her mouthing off. What would it take to get through to Lila what she did was wrong? Thankfully, Olivia entered the room that minute.

"No one is entitled to anything in life. You have to earn what you want or it doesn't mean anything Lila. If you want your privacy back you have to earn it. Now, stop throwing a fit please and go help your cousins out with unloading the delivery truck. That fresh food is not going to put itself away."

Huffing angrily, Lila stormed out of her suite and headed downstairs to the back porch to help cart the food inside.

Back in the suite, Olivia was in her and Vino's bedroom dabbing on some lavender oil to help relieve her headache. She didn't know what she was going to do with her daughter. Each year, Lila seemed to get more devious with her behavior.

In her vanity mirror, she saw her husband entering the room. "Did you finish installing the cameras?"

Vino nodded. "I don't like what we're doing."

"Neither do I, but what choice do we have? Her behavior is getting worse and whenever she's alone in her room, I'm afraid of what she's plotting. I don't understand what we're doing wrong with parenting her."

Her husband shrugged. He was also confused. Growing up here in Fox Burrows, his parents had been very strict and expected his best behavior. At the same time, they gave him his freedom to make his own choices and showed him affection whenever they could.

"I've been reading articles on how to deal with teenage lying, but I'm not sure it will help much." She passed her husband one of the articles she cut out of a magazine for him took at.

Teenagers would lie for six main reasons. One was to avoid punishment for causing trouble. It was the same reason children lied about embarrassing matters. Lying was also the result of wanting to protect someone, cover up how they feel, or craving attention. The last reason was to keep part of their lives to themselves.

Several of these reasons related to Lila's case, especially craving attention. She would go to any length to have people paying attention to her. Growing up in a family that owned and managed such a complex company, you soon learned the best way to get attention was to make everyone like what you had to say.

Lila had taken that knowledge and twisted it. Using manipulation and deceit to get what she wanted. While they praised her ability to make people believe in what she said, they had failed to establish when it was time to use a sales pitch and when it was time, to be honest with people.

The article said that the parents had to remain calm when it came to talking to a teenager. Yelling and storming around angrily was hypocritical and wouldn't demonstrate how important it was for everyone to listen to one another.

As tough as it was, especially if the child had been lying about a family member, maintaining perspective was vital when addressing an angry teenager. You had to remember you lied when you were a teenager as well.

Other tips included emphasized lectures about why lying was wrong and the consequences for doing so. Find an example that will show how serious lying is. An example would be about lying about any medication a person took and later there would be a deadly drug reaction.

Parents should model honesty to their teenagers. Be more conscious of their actions and how they affected others. A teenager who has been lying habitually will take time and patience to comprehend their behavior is wrong and how to act appropriately.

They had been doing this and making Lila go to therapy for her disorder. It wasn't helping much because Lila refused to put in the effort to change or even consider the possibility that she had a problem.

Dr. Rocky had recommended a few weeks ago that it might be better if Lila was sent to a long term mental health center where there were trained professionals and security to keep an eye on her all day.

Olivia looked over her shoulder at her husband. "Do you think we should consider Dr. Rocky's offer?"

Vino took a few deep breaths. "I don't know. As angry as I am at her, she's still my only child. I don't want to be separated from her. I just don't know if sending her away would help or hurt her."

They decided to wait a few more weeks and if there wasn't any improvement then they would revisit the issue.

* * *

The next day, Marinette went to visit Master Fu. Adrien had another photo shoot today and then he had double Chinese lessons so he wouldn't be able to sneak away for today's lesson.

"So what will I be learning today?" Marinette asked.

Master Fu took a sip of tea before smiling. "Do you recall when Ning was learning to use two Kwami Charms at once?" Receiving a nod he continued with his explanation.

"The combining on two Kwami Charm powers is a scale down version of what the Order called unification. That is, wearing two Miraculouses at once and fusing their power."

He reached behind him and picked up the Miraculous Book and placed it on his small table. He opened it up to the right pages that had an illustration of what she needed to do.

First, she had to transform using her normal Miraculous before putting on another. Then she needed to slip on the second and hold out her hands while saying the two Kwamiis names.

While clapping her hands together she had to say unify. To undo the fusion she had to repeat the process this time saying divide. "Using two Miraculouses at once can drain your energy significantly faster than normal."

"Would it speed up the countdown as well? Could I use both powers in one transformation?"

Master Fu acknowledge she could use both powers. If she did use both she would have only five minutes left before the unification came undone as she was transforming back to her civilian self.

"You must be careful when using unification. Not all powers work well with one another. Your enhanced abilities are much stronger and can be difficult to control. The real danger is the longer your unified the harder it is to divide the powers again."

"Why?"

Master Fu sighed heavily as he explained that if a wielder was using unification often the rush of power became addictive. Some wielders became so addicted that they died because of an overuse of magic.

Marinette paled upon hearing this. The Miraculouses were amazingly powerful objects, but there was always a price to pay when using them. "I'll explain this to Adrien when we see each other next. Am I going to be trying this today?"

"Not today. We're just going to review the theory behind the technique. You need to be a lot stronger before you even practice using this." Marinette was grateful that she had more time to familiarize herself with the power.

If something happened to her while using this power, she wanted her partner right next to her to help her when she needed it.


	3. Anger

**The episode featured in this chapter will be Startrain because Ladybug was supposed to air right before the season finale. Also, in my universe, there is no Miraculous with the direct power teleport.  
**

**This is for two reasons. I found the abstract thought of teleportation to be too modern of a concept to have come into being around the time of the creation of the Miraculouses. The other reason is I felt teleportation was too deus ex machina. **

** So I do hope you like the Miraculous I've chosen for Max to wield and help save the day.**

* * *

Lila was very angry. She had searched for all the hidden cameras in her room, but she hadn't found any. The only camera she knew about was the security camera in the far corner of her bedroom looking directly at her bed and curtain door.

She was not happy about the way her life was going. Her grandparents were ready to wash their hands of her and take away her rightful future and inheritance. Her parents were against her, forcing her to go to some dimwit's office in the absurd notion she needed to face reality when she already did.

Making her do volunteer work as a penance for having a little fun with Alya. It wasn't her fault the idiot girl was susceptible to hypnotic suggestion, now was it? She had better things to do than watching bratty little children at the community center.

Life was all about lying and scheming to make it out on top. She was better than everyone and they should be grateful that she even paid a margin of attention to them. It was absurd that she shouldn't take advantage of everyone around her.

Apparently, their feelings mattered and they should be respected. Treated with kindness and she should be supportive of them. Hah! What about her extended family at home? Everyone in Fox Burrows said they were either disenchanted or appalled with her behavior.

She could care less about what her extended family thought of her. After all, she would have been elated for something bad to happen to her cousin Todd. She recalled the family reunion competitions where she had beat him in a friendly spar by attacking his manhood. Ah, good memories.

The school was even worse than at home. No one treated her with the special treatment she deserved. Ms. Mendeleiev, who had to be the nastiest teacher in the world, didn't believe any of Lila's carefully crafted lies.

She never accommodated Lila, who was too busy with her family's business, to study and pass such a hard test. Instead of giving her a passing grade, she made Lila take the tests! Homework, in-class assignments, and even group projects, this barbarian of a woman forced Lila to do what she wanted her to do!

Her classmates also actively blocked her from forcing others to do her work. Her casual insistences, (threats), didn't stop them from reporting her to the teacher or the headmaster landing her in detention.

What little followers she still had abandoned her after the incident with the robot and the complete shutdown of the arrondissement. No one knew she was the one who corrupted Markov, with a little help from a hacker, from the darknet.

However, because Markov's special AI chip came from her family's company they believed she was guilty by association. It was not something she had calculated for. Nor why everyone treated that piece of junk like it was _alive._

The worst thing about school was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It wasn't enough that she was a tattletale and Adrien's girlfriend. She had accomplishments and praises from so many people. Even Jagged Stone called her his honorary niece!

Marinette was a pathetic, doltish, self-righteous termagant! There was nothing exceptional about her. She was an in-proficient, lubberly, and supercilious and it boggled Lila's mind that everyone bought her I am a good person act.

So what if she was a class rep? Any buffoon could do that job and it didn't grant any real power. Her family's bakery was atrocious and it was the same as their baked goods. It made her want to throw up every single time she hear what a good friend she was. How she always helped anyone who needed it.

They even called her, their Everyday Ladybug! If there wasn't video proof that Marinette was akumatized and fighting Ladybug, Lila would have thought they were the same person. Both of them thought they were above the station fate had given them.

* * *

Right now, she was trying her best to not growl as Ms. Mendeleiev started talking about some overrated educational field trip the class was taking in a few days.

"We will be joining Ms. Bustier's class on the train to London. While they are visiting the Elizabeth Tower where Big Ben is housed for their literature class, we shall be visiting Tower Bridge to learn more about engineering. I expect each of you to be on your best behavior."

"Yes, Ms. Mendeleiev," the class, except for Lila, responded. The teacher smiled very pleasantly before reminding them she would be pairing them up with a travel buddy once they got on the train.

When the bell for lunch rang Lila went to the locker room, figuring it was the one place she could scheme without notice. She stopped before entering when she heard Alix and Mylene talking to each other in the locker room.

"I can't believe that we're going to London and not even getting to ride on the London Eye! A Ferris wheel where you dangle above the river sounds intense."

"Well, I for one, am glad that the class is just visiting Big Ben. I hope that it's safe. I read online there doing renovations to the place. One of us could get injured badly if we don't stay with the group."

Alix assured Mylene that they wouldn't be going into the tower if it wasn't safe. Ms. Bustier would make sure everyone stayed together and no one got hurt. She even joked that if Marinette tripped and caused someone to get hurt she be sued.

Lila backed away from the door and hurried away. She didn't need that she-boy and the whimpering baby finding out she had overheard them. Finding an out of the way spot, she pulled out the note and permission slip to study the details.

"I should have been paying more attention to this earlier. How could I miss the fact the classes will be sharing train cars. This is the perfect time for me to start plotting the downfall of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Without Miss Wonderful around, I can regain my power at school. From there I will rise once again to the top and then nothing will stop me from taking my rightful place as the new CEO and owner of Treasure Incorporated!"

Lila's eyes glittered with madness. She would do whatever it took to remind people not to mess with her. Including, a certain supervillain, who didn't take care of her rival, despite the fact she had delivered him the perfect victim a few weeks ago.

* * *

Later that day, Marinette was lying in her bed writing in her diary about everything going on in her world. She had started writing in code shortly after Master Fu and Ning had decoded the Miraculous Book, inspired by the depth the Order would go to protect the Miraculouses.

"Every day, I wonder if it will the day my friends and I defeat Hawkmoth and Mayura. Each day it gets a little harder to keep my secret from my parents. As each day passes I fear it might be the day I fail to stop an Akuma."

Marinette paused as she tapped the pencil ideally. She wished there was someone she could talk to about her fears. Sure, she could talk to the other Miraculous wielders, but none of them were under the same pressure as she was.

Even her boyfriend, who had to be very careful with his power to ensure it didn't harm anyone, really didn't understand how she could never fail in any mission no matter how small.

Maybe I should talk to Ning about this next time she's in Paris. She would understand the burden I'm under.

Exhaling, she started to write and read out loud again. "The Akuma attacks are getting harder to defeat without asking for help. Chat and I have been training the core three for a few hours one night a week, but the others should be joining us if we could find a better place to practice.

Kkachi is at a real disadvantage with Honorra only having six power-ups left. She can't use them up for training purposes. Honorra suggested that Kkachi train with her Kwami Charm, but Master Fu ruled that out.

While the Kwami Charms are meant to be used for training purposes, he's afraid of what would happen to Honorra if Kkachi used the Kwami Charm too often in her state of health. The little magpie is not happy about that. She knows he's right, but it doesn't change the fact she's afraid for her temporary wielder falling behind the others."

Tikki phased into the room. She had been on the balcony enjoying the plants. Now, she floated over and looked at what her wielder had written. Her antennas drooped.

"Kkachi isn't the only one with that problem. Fluff's wielder Bunnyx has the same problem. Her powers are strong enough to cause real damage. Only an experienced user of Kwami Charms should use it."

It went without question the only one qualified to use any of the Kwami Charms was Peace Keeper. Her upbringing and keeping Wayzz's charm safe for two decades had made her the most capable charm user in centuries.

Marinette picked up her diary again, this time doing a simple sketch of Ryuko, King Monkey, and Viperion. They had only used their Miraculouses once before and didn't have the limitations Kkachi and Bunnyx did.

She wanted to train them as well, but again there was the question of space. Sooner than later, the rooftops they had been using with the core trio would become too dangerous to use for practice.

"Tikki, with how the team is now, do you think we have a chance of defeating Hawkmoth?"

"A slight chance yes. You all know how to fight and can use your powers reasonably well. What your team is lacking are experience and cohesion. Without those, there's a better chance your team will lose despite having more numbers."

There has to be someplace in Paris with enough space and privacy for us to train in. It wouldn't hurt if it was also up to safety code standards. It would also need to be very secure and have a security system to alert us to dangers while avoiding revealing our identities. If only I could think of one Marinette thought to herself.

"I wish we had a place like Ning's bunker. Not, that I want to live in an underground shelter, but just a safe place that nobody except those who need to know where it is."

Tikki pointed out that she could contact Ning through her Kwamii Charm. "I want to have a better idea of what we need and how we're going to include everyone in the training before I ask her about that."

* * *

Back at school Kagami and Adrien were sparing with one another in fencing. Kagami was using her fancy footwork to duck under or pull back from Adrien's attacks.

Kagami went in for the quick strike only for Adrien to leap over her and touch his foil to her back. "How did you like that move?"

Kagami removed her mask and gave him a fierce frown. "Good fencers don't resort to tricks to win a match. Where did you even see that move used before?"

Adrien took off his mask and gave her his signature cat grin. "I saw it in a cartoon. The fencer called it the Flying Stag."

His friend rolled her eyes. "You need to stop watching so many cartoons and anime all the time. Life itself has lessons, not TV."

"I have heard that before." The boy chuckled and then they both lowered their helmets and went for another bout. This time Adrien focused more on scoring points on Kagami's torso in places that weren't easily defended.

The red fencer would not let him get a point in. She blocked and parried until she scored enough points that Adrien gave in. "Your mind is not focused enough today Adrien. What is distracting you?"

Adrien wasn't sure he could word this without letting on who he was? "Oh, I was just thinking about trying to find a new practice space for fencing. A place where I can teach Marinette without being under the supervision of my bodyguard or Nathalie. I know there are public places…"

"You want a place where you can do more than just practice fencing don't you? Are you and Marinette having sex?"

"NO!" Adrien was blushing furiously almost the same color as Ladybug's suit. "We just want a place that's ours. Not my mansion or her room above the bakery. Just a place we can hangout and relax without being constantly watched."

"Apologizes. That was rude of me to ask. I wish I could help you, Adrien. The only places I go to in Paris are places I've been to before with my mother. I hope you do find a place eventually."

* * *

Three days later in Buenos Aires at four a.m. one UN agent was up and fully awake. Feeling restless, Peace Keeper was on an early morning run. Wearing her uniform she raced through the streets, climbing up buildings, and doing acrobatic stunts as she went higher and higher in the city.

She leaped across a wide divide shooting out a bungee line. It wrapped itself around a flagpole pulling her towards the next building. Grabbing the flagpole, she shimmed down and scanned the still dark sky looking at the fading stars.

"I should be still in bed getting rest for today's meeting with A.E.S Wydler meeting to discuss the rewritten proposals. Most of them are great except the one about minimizing infrastructure. That section on building materials needs to be very specific and precise. We also need to discuss how to keep the roads open should they be built," she whispered to herself.

She really should go back to the hotel only to hesitate when she was turning around. Something was calling her towards the mountains just outside the city. It sounded like a faint voice calling from miles away.

Father did say not to pretend you don't hear anything if she felt magic calling you. I don't know what's out there, but I sense I need to hurry faster.

Activating her jetpack she flew into the air and she changed the filter settings to pinpoint anything magical. The filters locked onto a target at one of the mountain peaks just outside the city. Pushing her jetpack to the limit, she arrived at a peak within ten minutes. Looking around, she saw nothing of importance here. Why was she here?

Nooroo's Kwami Charm started to glow faintly. She heard a faint voice again. It certainly wasn't Nooroo's voice though. Nooroo's voice was always kind with a tiny bit of fear in it.

No, the voice she heard was getting a bit louder and angrier. She felt her head pounding as someone tried to communicate with her, but it was beyond their limits.

She took the prototype communication booster out of one of her belt pouches. The booster was much smaller than ones for sale at stores and it created a bigger signal that could go much further than before.

She attached it to her minicomputer and turned it on. She could already see how much stronger her signal was and at such a high altitude. She brought her hands around the glowing charm.

As she suspected, the booster was interacting with the magic from the charm, boosting the telepathic link between the Kwami Charm and Nooroo. Settling into a meditation pose Peace Keeper opened her mind slightly find out who was calling her.

_She found herself in the mindscape of her home. Someone was furiously knocking on her door and it was getting weaker. She cautiously walked over as a stun gun materialized her hand. She opened the door and lunged at the person who was in the opening. She wasn't going to take a chance with anyone walking in her mind. _

_ "STOP!" Hawkmoth yelled as Peace Keeper shoved him to the ground reaching for his neck. "STOP! I need your help!"_

_ "Like I'm going to fall for that!" The stun gun was about to connect when Hawkmoth burst into a hundred white butterflies. _

_ The flitter flapped all around her in an enchanting dance. Going to her living room they joined as one becoming Hawkmoth. The difference was the Miraculous was gone and Nooroo was hovering its place. _

_ The kwami opened his eyes and spoke softly. "Peace Keeper, please stand down. Hawkmoth _does_ need your help. You may be the only person on the planet that can save hundreds of lives."  
_

_ Nooroo's gentle magic gently touched her. She could feel Nooroo's emotions and that on this occasion kwami and wielder shared a common goal. They both needed her help and had no intention to harm her at all.  
_

_ "You better explain yourself quickly if you want my help. What is going on?" _

_ Nooroo prompted his wielder to talk. The man's expression was torn between pride and worry. He knew he had to speak, but it was humiliating asking a hero for help._

_ "I can just leave now if you have nothing to say." _

_ "NO! You can't leave! I lost control of one of my akumas!" _

_ "So you lost one butterfly? Why does that concern me?" _

_ "Because it's an akumatized person who I don't have control over and is out of my range of telepathy and getting further away each second!" _

_ Peace Keeper raised her eyebrows. "How far out of range are we talking about? Is the Akuma still in France?" _

_Hawkmoth shook his head and replied, "The Akuma and everyone on the train that was akumatized with the person is in outer space!"  
_

_ Peace Keeper's eyes started to twitch and her jaw dropped. Her fingers curled in anger, disgust, and fear. "Show. Me. Now." Each word came out like ice. _

_ Nooroo glowed as he shared with her his memories of current events. His master had been tracking a strong source of irritation. Before this person could be akumatized the akuma changed targets as it sensed stronger darker emotions coming from nearby. _

_ Before he could order the akuma back the little butterfly was out of range. Hawkmoth assumed once he changed back to his civilian form, the akuma would revert to a harmless butterfly. _

_ That was not the case as akuma acted on its own and akumatized the conductor of the underground train and it was now a speeding rocket train getting further and further away from Earth. _

_ The amount of rage Peace Keeper aimed at Hawkmoth for his reckless actions made the man tremble. He was lucky they were in her mindscape otherwise she would have broken every bone in his body.  
_

_Nooroo redirected Peace Keeper's anger by getting her to focus on the current problem. "Peace Keeper, you need to connect with the Akuma and convince it to return to Earth. You are the strongest telepath I've ever had a chance to work with. _

_Even before I blessed you with half of my power, your mind was well disciplined and strong enough by itself. Your reach is far wider than my master's. Please help?"  
_

_Peace Keeper assured Nooroo she would help as she glared at Hawkmoth once more. The man had the decency to look ashamed. "I'll fix your mess, but you will owe me a favor understand?" _

_The man could only nod miserably as sat down on the floor of her mindscape and started praying his enemy was strong enough to get the Akuma to return to Earth with his son alive. _

* * *

Last night in Paris, Adrien and Marinette had gone to visit Master Fu to see if there was a way they could go on the field trip. If not, they would have to pretend to be sick.

They both wanted to go on the field trip. At the same time, they couldn't abandon their responsibility to Paris. There was no Miraculous that had the power of teleportation as its main power.

Sniffer, the Kwami of Limbo, granted the special ability to teleport to his wielder. The problem was it took up to a year for his wielder to gain the strength and energy to pull off using the ability and it only worked on the wielder.

Instead, he gave them the Dog Miraculous which had the Power of Ethics. In an emergency, it could be used to help convince someone that the duo needed to get back to Paris quickly.

So the two had boarded the train and had been catching up on some sleep. No one had noticed Lila entering their car or that she was inching closer to steal Marinette's purse. The liar knew something valuable was in the purse and she wanted to get a look at what it was.

That's when Startrain had taken off and all the passengers on the train started floating in the air. The two heroes had managed to transform in the bathroom and convinced the passengers they had used a magic spell to get on the train.

So now the heroes were making their way towards the driver's cabin, along with Max and Markov to help them along the way, and hoping to persuade Startrain to turn around back towards Earth.

They were floating between cars when the train abruptly stopped. All five of them were flung back into the wall. The speakers were still on so they heard Startrain talking to herself.

"What do you mean I have to turn around? I'm living my dream Peace Keeper!" she wailed.

Max and Markov looked at the heroes in confusion. "Peace Keeper? I thought Hawkmoth was the one who akumatized my mom?"

"He did. Peace Keeper is a different person who was blessed with some of the Butterfly Miraculous powers," Chat explained. He looked at Ladybug anxiously. "Do you think anyone else heard that?"

"Probably not, Startrain has complete control over the train so I think she can control who hears what she says."

Startrain proved that with her next statement. "It's not like I announced your whole presence to all my passengers. The only ones who heard me were Ladybug and Chat Noir."

There was a pause and then they heard her speaking again. "Alright, I'll go back towards Earth, but not before I get a chance to orbit around the moon. Maybe I'll even land on there so I can be the first female on the moon!"

The train started up again and the small group was flung into the other wall. The train picked up speed as it headed towards the moon.

"She's turning around My Lady. Peace Keeper got through to her." Chat Noir said in delight.

Ladybug pointed out that Peace Keeper only was able to persuade the Akuma to go to the moon. They still needed to get back to Earth.

So they entered the next car and made their way towards the conductor's cabin. They were halfway through the car when Startrain's voice was heard again.

"Interlopers trying to stop me from getting to be the first woman on the moon? I think not."

Intense heat started to fill the cabin. Max screamed as the heat started to burn his skin and Markov wailed about him overheating. On the speakers, they could hear Startrain arguing with Peace Keeper, who was telling her to stop.

"Quick, get the door open Markov!" Max told his best friend.

"Markov will save his friends!"

The little robot ignored the heat the best he could as he worked to unlock the door.

Realizing the little robot was going to overheat, Chat Noir managed to maneuver himself directly in front of the robot. He tried to ignore how overheated he was getting, but he knew he couldn't keep all the heat from reaching Markov.

The door opened and they all fell into the small hall between the cars. Everyone took a few minutes to catch their breath. The train bucked up and down a few times.

"What is going on with Startrain? Are we still on a course back towards the moon than Earth?" Chat Noir asked.

"Markov, can you connect to the train's GPS and external sensors to find out what's going on?"

"Of course Max! One second." The little robot connected to the computer and within ten seconds, he had the answers.

"Max! You and the other passengers are in danger. Your mom is diverting all power to the engines so we reach the moon in a matter of minutes!"

"What's her trajectory?" the genius asked already feeling dread in his stomach.

"She plans to land the train in the Sea of Tranquility. The problem is if she lands there won't be any fuel left to take off again! Additionally, with her draining power from all other systems, we'll run out of heat and oxygen a minute before we land which is in seven minutes!"

"We have to get Startrain to take us directly to Earth and skip the moon right now. I don't think Peace Keeper has enough control to force her will onto Startrain's mind."

"Then we're going to need help," Ladybug said while gesturing to Chat Noir's pocket.

Max was stunned when Chat Noir pulled out a small box and held it out to him. "Max Kante, This is the Dog Miraculous. It has the power of Ethics. With it, you can help someone foresee the consequences of their actions. You will use this to help us complete the mission. Once the mission is done, you will return the Miraculous and never speak to anyone to this."

Max took the box and opened it up. A light brown and white light sparkled in the air before reforming into a small doglike kwami. "My name is Barrk. I can smell how principled you are. Your power is Fateful Choice. Simply make contact with a person and they will experience the different outcomes of any major choice they're making.

You will have five minutes before you need to change back. To transform say my name and Bark Once."

Slipping the collar around his neck Max quickly said, "Barrk! Bark Once!" The kwami flew into her Miraculous as the transformation took hold.

Max's outfit changed into a light brown bodysuit with a white stripe that started at the collar bone and down his chest and abdomen. The sleeves of the outfit ended just past the elbow before turning into white gloves with paw prints on them. The suit cut off at just past the knees before turning into white boots that were paw-shaped.

The back of the outfit was darker and had faux fur on it. A baseball bat was situated on his back. His hair was much longer and fluffier looking forming a dog tail that hung in a ponytail. To complete the look was a pair of floppy dog ears and a white eye mask.

"Call me Sirius."

The heroes nodded and Markov opened the door quickly. The next car was ice cold and there was barely any oxygen left. Ladybug entered first, Sirius in the middle, and Chat Noir at the end.

Markov flew alongside the group. By now there was almost no power left in the remaining cars. He would not be able to open the last door to the conductor's cabin.

Instead, he was keeping track of the time, power levels, and the amount of oxygen in the whole rocket train.

A big flashing five appeared on the robot's face. "Heroes need to hurry! We only have five minutes before the Akuma strands us on the moon."

Ladybug started to call on her power when she weakly pointed behind them. The tiny server robots had been turned on again and they started to attack the group.

Chat Noir and Sirius brought out their weapons and started attacking the server bots with a rush of adrenaline keeping them going as they bashed and smashed the attacking forces.

Knowing that rush would wear off quickly, Ladybug called out, "Lucky Charm!" A red and black spotted police helmet dropped into her hands. "Got to figure this one out fast.

Her vision highlighted the door to the conductor's cabin, the helmet, and Markov. "Of course! Markov get over here!"

Markov swiftly made his way over ducking and dodging all the flying bits of scrap. His screen changed from four to a three as he reached the heroine. "What do you need Markov's help with Ladybug?"

"I need to put this on and hold on tight," she explained as she put the helmet over him. "I'm going to build up momentum with my yo-yo and when I say now, I want you to release from my yo-yo and ram the door as hard as you can."

The robot didn't know if this plan was scientifically sound. He did know when you added magic to any equation you never knew what would happen.

Ladybug's plan worked as the door broke apart. The three heroes quickly rushed inside.

Startrain was bickering with Peace Keeper about her plans to land on the moon. Without wasting time, Sirius activated his power. "Fateful Choice!" His right glove glowed as touched it to Startrain's head.

At that exact second, the Akuma witnessed the consequences would be if she landed on the moon. She saw all her passengers floating dead in their train cars. Her son, whose skin had turned blue, hovering in her cabin forever. That eventually even Markov would lose power and she would be alone on the moon until she too lost her life.

Another second passed and then Startrain was switching gears and redistributing power to the other cars as she pulled out of the dive for the moon heading straight for the train station in Paris.

With one minute remaining on Ladybug's transformation the train landed back at the station. Chat Noir destroyed the akumatized object so she could purify the butterfly and release her Miraculous Cure.

The three heroes pounded it and with thirty seconds to spare Ladybug scurried off quickly before she changed back. This left Chat Noir and Sirius alone as the two jumped to the roof of the station.

Letting go of the transformation, Max smiled. "Thanks for letting me help you Chat Noir. It was nice to meet you Barrk."

"Indeed, it was nice to meet you young Max. Remember to have your robot friend purge his memory of you transforming."

"Yeah, we don't want you to accidentally let critical information out into the public."

Max promised he would and headed indoors so he could make his way back to his mom. Chat Noir pocketed the Miraculous and went to find a good place to change back.

* * *

_ Back in the mindscape Peace Keeper's eyes opened. She stood up and spoke in a stern voice. "The Akuma returned the train to Paris before being purified. You are extremely lucky no one died. If someone did nothing would have saved you from my wraith." _

_ Hawkmoth nodded his head. He still wasn't looking at her. The only thing he did was let out a breath he didn't know he been holding. "Thank heavens everyone is alright. I suppose you want me to give you your favor now." _

_ "Not now, I want to make you squirm wondering what I'll ask for at a later date. For now, count your blessings and get out of my head!" _ Two minutes passed before Peace Keeper returned to the real world and blinked a few times.

"Guess I can tell the tech company their booster is incredibly powerful. It reached into space," she chuckled.

* * *

Later that day in Paris, Marinette returned the Dog Miraculous to Master Fu. "You were right. It did come in handy. I hope nothing like that ever happens again."

"Indeed, that is one incident that does not need to be repeated. Hopefully, Hawkmoth has learned a valuable lesson."

Hesitating for a few seconds, Marinette asked the question that had been on her mind since hearing Startrain say Peace Keeper's name. "Master Fu, why do you think Peace Keeper was able to contact the Akuma and not Hawkmoth? After all, he created it and should have been in control."

"The Butterfly Miraculous has a limited range for staying connected to its champion. Should the champion or the butterfly itself go out of the wielder's range, both the champion and the butterfly can act independently.

Most likely, Hawkmoth sent the akuma out only for it to go out of range and attach itself to the strongest negative feeling it could find, which in this case, happened to be your friend's mother."

That did make sense. Max's mom had been very anxious about finding out if she passed the test to start her astronaut training. Marinette recalled the woman checking her smartwatch every few minutes.

Each time she didn't have a new email, she had gotten more frustrated. Still, how did Peace Keeper succeed in connecting to Startrain, when Hawkmoth himself couldn't even reach her and he was wielding the Miraculous itself?

As if reading her thoughts, Master Fu supplied the answer. "Even if Hawkmoth had Nooroo's full power, his mind isn't as disciplined or open-minded enough to reach out that far.

Ning, on the other hand, has a fully disciplined mind and has been open-minded since she was a little girl. Having spent most of her life concealing Wayzz Kwami Charm, she has been exposed to Miraculous magic over the time making her even stronger than a normal person."

"Do you think Nooroo convinced Hawkmoth to reach out to her to fix the problem?"

Master Fu nodded with certainty. Nooroo was a very caring kwami and would have done everything in his power to ensure the safety of innocent lives. "Before you go, I thought it was time for you and Adrien to start introducing the EMC to the modern world. Do you think you can give Jill to Adrien? I want you to take after Arron."

Marinette nodded and opened her purse letting the two extra Kwamiis hide inside. She could easily pass by the mansion and send Jill into his room. "I hope you have a good night Master Fu."

Upon returning home she helped her parents out in the bakery and then they had dinner. She finally made it up to her room and released the Kwamiis. "Here, I got you some dinner."

Tikki took her cookie and Arron flew in and took the salt shaker over to the chaise to eat. Marinette settled down to do her homework, one eye keeping track of Arron.

Unlike real rhinos, Arron could see quite well and was looking all over the room admiring the different items on the walls and all the different supplies in the room. Shaking the shaker a pile of salt appeared on the chaise.

He started to lap it up when he felt someone eyeing him. Irritated, he looked up and saw his "cousin" giving him a look of disapproval. "What?! I'm just eating my meal!"

"You shouldn't be inconsiderate to others. How is Marinette going to clean all that salt off her chaise?"

"I'll eat all of it so there is no reason to get in my face about it!"

"You still shouldn't have put your meal on the chaise itself. You could have used a button as a plate."

Arron was about to charge her when Marinette came over. "Okay, calm down you two. Tikki, I can just use a hand vacuum to clean up any leftover salt. Arron, next time could you ask me for something to put the salt on?"

Arron huffed and ground out a yes. Tikki apologized to her "cousin" and went back to her meal.

"Why are female Kwamiis always so uppity?" Arron muttered to himself. He hoped Tikki wouldn't be in his face the whole time he was here.

* * *

A few hours later, Marinette and Tikki left on patrol leaving Arron to his own devices. The teenager had told him to stay in her room and watch a movie on her computer so her parents would think she was still there.

Arron selected a movie that was about some queen with ice powers and her crazy sister looking for her in the middle of a blizzard.

He watched only ten minutes before he turned the TV off. The movie wasn't to his taste. Instead, he floated up to the balcony to get a better look at the city.

"Humans, why do they like making it so bright at night? Do they need all these lights if they're just going to bed?" he huffed to himself.

He scanned the night sky and tried to picture what it must have been like to be on a train in space. The last time he was active humans hadn't even been able to leave the planet.

How far humanity had come. But why did they want to go into space in the first place? The Kwamiis had all been born in space and he didn't see anything great about it.

"Then again, as the Kwami of Anger, it's nearly impossible to find anything great. Maybe if I see why the conductor lady likes it so much, it will make sense to me."

He phased back into Marinette's room and found her address book. After memorizing Max's address he flew off to the boy's house to meet with his mother so to speak.

Arriving at the Kante home, Arron carefully phased into the apartment through Max's window. He looked around and saw Markov was plugged into the wall with a sleepy expression in his digital face.

He listened for any noises and heard an adult female in the next room talking to herself. His hearing was acute enough to tell him she was alone and not merely waiting for someone to respond to her comments.

Poking his head in the next room, he saw Claudia sitting on a huge bed and was writing something down in a journal. Making sure he wasn't seen, he phased completely into the room and hid behind the headboard.

"I wish I could remember being in space and getting a close up with the stars, but I don't. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. I don't want to have the memory of Max being scared to death as I piloted a rocket train away from the safety of the Earth."

The woman glanced out her window and closed the journal. "How do I forgive myself for putting my son in harm's way? I know it was Hawkmoth's fault I was akumatized, but if I hadn't been so frustrated and anxious about my test results, this could have been avoided."

Arron could tell she was very angry at herself and she needed to get it out of her and not let her fester in it. Cautiously, he touched the back of the woman's jacket and whispered, "Flaring Temper."

At once Claudia was filled with an intense rage that she needed to get out of her all at once. Grabbing her journal again, she flipped to the back and began to scribble heatedly on the last page.

A minute later the anger was gone and she felt a lot better. Looking down at the scribbles, she realized they were scribbles at all. It was a sketch of her holding her son after they returned to Earth and they were both smiling.

Claudia realized she shouldn't be angry at herself just beyond her control. She should be happy everything was okay now and that Max loved her despite what happened today.

Satisfied with his work, Arron left the Kante apartment and hurried back to the bakery so Marinette and Tikki wouldn't find out he snuck out.

* * *

While Arron was out helping Claudia, Ladybug and Chat Noir had finished their patrol and were sitting down in one of their favorite buildings to talk.

"That was a crazy Akuma today huh?" Chat Noir facetiously remarked. He was trying to lighten the mood. Seeing his girlfriend wasn't impressed he became somber.

"Chat, we were in outer space because Hawkmoth lost control of the akuma and it acted on his own. We barely survived and that was because Peace Keeper somehow managed to get control over Startrain.

We may not get so lucky next time. Not to mention now we have another temporary wielder who needs to be trained."

Chat Noir grimaced at that. They had yet to find a place to meet and train without onlookers secretly taking videos of them. Considering how many temporary wielders they had now they all needed to get some training if Hawkmoth was escalating his attacks.

"Maybe we should train in the catacombs. I don't think we'll be bothered there."

"Sure let's train in a place where tons of dirt can collapse on top of us by using our powers."

"Didn't know you could be sarcastic My Lady."

"I have my moments. But now that you mention the catacombs, you've given me an idea. I need to talk with Peace Keeper and iron out some details. Hopefully, everything works out. I let you know in a few days if my idea pans out."

"Until then I bid you goodnight, My Lady."

"You too my Chaton."


	4. Disgust

**In this chapter, I will be reminding people of the different family bloodlines in Lila's extended family and what they specialize in now that they are regular business people and not a crime family.**

** Also, the episode in this chapter Feast will be slightly different because in my stories I said the temple was attacked by outside forces and not destroyed because of Master Fu's mistake. **

** I hope everyone likes this chapter. **

* * *

Four nights had passed since Ladybug had an idea of where to train everyone. After discussing the problem with Ning, and informing Master Fu and Chat Noir what they discussed, they had found a secure and safe space with plenty of room to train all the wielders.

Ladybug and Chat Noir started to gather all of the temporary heroes. When it came to the Couffaine siblings, they had to be extra careful not to let the other one know they were being fetched for training. Finally, they all arrived outside a nice looking rental office in an older section of Paris.

The temporary heroes glanced over at Bunnyx and Kkachi. Well, they thought they were Bunnyx and Kkachi. Because Bunnyx had been forgotten due to the Akuma Timetagger never happening, Ladybug and Chat Noir had informed the other temporary heroes about her. They also said that Kkachi's Miraculous came with limits which is why she wasn't transformed.

Instead of their costumes, they were wearing black stealth suits with attachments on them to mimic parts of their costumes. They were also carrying replicas of their weapons, (in Bunnyx case, a tube filled with Playdough) and had on fake Miraculouses.

When Ladybug had talked with Ning about the two heroines' problem, the UN agent had overnight shipped two of her old stealth suits to a P.O box for Ladybug to pick up. The stealth suits had been equipped with some enhancements that would help mimic the physical powers of the Miraculouses magical suits.

"Welcome everyone. As some of you know, Chat Noir and I, have been training our first three temporary heroes one night a week. As our ranks have swelled it's become a necessity to train all of you so you're ready to face Hawkmoth's akumas or the villain himself with Mayura tagging along.

For weeks now the two of us have been struggling to find a place to safely train everyone without being caught. I'm happy to say we've finally found a place that suits our needs."

"A real estate office? Are you kidding us?" King Monkey asked dubiously.

Chat Noir grinned. "Looks can be deceiving. Follow us." The two main heroes lead the small group around back to a fenced-in area where the trash was dumped.

Chat Noir pushed the dumpster out of the way and underneath it was a large metal door in the ground. Ladybug pulled open the door revealing a narrow staircase heading down.

Everyone followed her down into the depths while Chat Noir secured the door behind them, after using his baton to help him slide the dumpster almost back in place.

At the end of the staircase, everyone gasped at what they saw. It was a huge underground shelter, a relic from WWII. During WWII several underground shelters had been constructed to protect people during attacks on the city, but over time people had forgotten about them.

Ning had come across this one by accident during one of her previous trips to Paris. She had updated the shelter figuring it would be a good place for the heroes to hide out if there was a city-wide attack and they needed to rest and recharge. She even had reinforced it to prevent it from collapsing.

It had everything they needed to train all the heroes without being seen by civilians and Hawkmoth. A gym and training area, a kitchenette to store food for the Kwamiis, a few rooms to rest after training. There was even a small living room area with a fully stocked bookcase, a computer, and a TV, which had special transponders so they could get a signal down here.

"This place is awesome! How did you two find this sweet place?" Bunnyx asked with glee.

"We have to keep some secrets. Tonight's practice is about physical conditioning. Several of you need to learn how to handle your enhanced physical abilities. You also need to exercise to keep your body in good shape."

Chat Noir stepped up and said, for now, he would work with the boys on their physical exercises while the girls would remain with Ladybug to get used to their enhanced abilities. He caught Bunnyx muttering something about sexism and chose to ignore it.

So he took the boys over to the gym area and started to assign them to different machines. "Alright, Carapace and Viperion both of you need to work on speed so head over to the treadmills. Sirius, you need to put on a bit more muscle go over to that machine to work on your arm strength.

King Monkey go use the step climber. You need to work on getting your cardiovascular muscles stronger so you don't tire yourself out with all the jumping around you do. It can also help with your balance."

For himself, Chat began to work on his flexibility. Fencing had developed his flexibility and it had only improved by battling Akumas. Still, he knew he could do better. So he started to do different stretches such as touching his toes and lunges.

With the girls, Ladybug had them line up and taped two X's on the ground several feet apart. "Alright, the first thing we should work on is controlling how high you can jump and how far will a leap take you. I want each of you to step on the X and jump as high as you can first. After you come back down, then I want to see you push off the ground and leap across to the other X.

I'll be taking notes from over here and talking to you after your turn. Let's begin." Ladybug went first to demonstrate what she meant on the off chance her explanation was too confusing.

Turning around she watched as Rene Rouge went first. She had improved greatly from the first time she had used the Miraculous. Her control was almost flawless. The problem was she kept overestimating her abilities.

Honey Bee's attempt was good, but not great. She needed to work on her leg strength if she wanted to reach higher and go further on her own power. Ladybug was going to recommend that she should use her wings less often.

Now it was Kkachi's turn. The teenager was fidgeting inside the stealth suit as she tried to figure out how to use its enhancements. Picturing the outfit with bouncy springs underneath her feet the teen gave it a try.

Her form was terrible as she only managed to get her right leg to activate the enhancement. So when she sprang up she was tipping wildly to the right as she struggled to get her left side in sync.

Ryuko caught her teammate before she hit the mats. Knowing the girl had to be embarrassed she whispered a suggestion about how to do her leap properly. This time, she made sure to bend down as far as she could and kept her eye on the other X.

She pushed off the ground and made sure not to lean too far forward. During the leap, she took a deep breath to loosen her body and made sure her feet were ready to absorb the impact.

"That was excellent Kkachi! You did great for using that stealth suit for the first time. Bunnyx, it's your turn to try. Please don't go overboard!"

Bunnyx rolled her eyes. She wasn't always that reckless when it came to testing her limits. Well, besides that time when she was eleven and thought it would be a brilliant idea to shred down the glass pyramid entrance and ended up breaking her left ankle and right wrist. Oh, and she got grounded for three months.

Okay, so she did go overboard at times. Like Kkachi, she needed to be careful. She knew how powerful and dangerous her Miraculous could be. So she would have to get used to the stealth suit and hope muscle memory took over when she transformed again.

So she jumped up and then did her leap. She didn't get as high or as far as the others, but she did do better than she expected. Hearing Ladybug telling her she did great was reward enough.

Of course, Ryuko did the best thanks to her natural physically fit body. The only comment that Ladybug had for her is that she needed to work on preparing herself for sloppy landings. Amid a fight, there was no guarantee of a perfect landing.

The group practiced for an hour and a half. The girls also worked on their flexibility before hitting the machines and Chat took to the boys to work on their enhanced physical abilities.

Once it was time to leave, the heroes made sure to secure the shelter and Chat used his baton again to move the dumpster so they could all climb out. As soon as the door was locked and the dumpster back in place the wielders split into their gender groups and were taken home and to return their Miraculouses to main heroes.

* * *

The next day while the kids were at school a family meeting was taking place at Fox Burrows between the heads of the extended branches of the Rossi family. The family meeting was being headed by the patriarch and matriarch of the family, with Lila's parents sitting to the side to listen and speak on their daughter's behave.

Simon called the meeting to order. "Today we are having an important meeting between the family heads to discuss an ongoing issue. My son and daughter-in -law's child Lila. I understand that every family has issues to discuss, but this is not a free for all.

Each head will get a chance to discuss their issues and decided on how to work them out. If anyone starts yelling or causing a scene you will be dismissed from this room. Am I clear?"

Everyone nodded and Jeanne got out her notebook and pencils to write out the transcript in shorthand. She would digitize it later. For important meetings, it was important to have a hard copy as well as a digitized one for comparisons.

First up was the head of the Canuto, (Hoary) family. They were in charge of the Advertising and Public Relations division. It was one of the most critical departments in the business.

Mr. Canuto looked glanced at a pile of papers before speaking. "Our Advertising department is scrambling to come up with new commercials and ads to make up for the false advertising your daughter spread.

We took a major hit in the sales of our sporting goods because of the incident with Ms. Bubbles. She left several negative reviews causing a few of our sporting goods partners to end their contracts with us. The company is now stuck with a surplus of gym equipment with nowhere to distribute it.

Has Lila even apologized to Ms. Bubbles? We believe if she did, then Ms. Bubbles might retract her previous statements and give us a better review."

Vino looked at his wife and she waved her hand in a so-so gesture. "I talked with the girl's parents. They were very unhappy about their daughter getting conned. I apologized for not keeping a closer watch on Lila. I forced her to apologize. It was apparent she didn't mean what she said."

"Which explains why we're still getting bad reviews. The Bubbles family don't trust us to keep our word." Mr. Canuto was not pleased by this at all. They would have to do something big to convince people that Treasure Incorporated was worthy of the public's trust.

It didn't take Mrs. Granncho, (Crab Eating), very long to get into the problems the Security division was still having thanks to Lila's Darknet stunt. They had to upgrade their protection protocols several times now and write a new firewall code to prevent any more attacks.

"Do you know how much overtime my entire division had to perform just in Paris alone? I had to contact and explain to all our other branches across the globe why they needed to go through extensive and lengthy upgrades."

She took a deep breath before continuing to speak. "I do _not_ like having to stay up for several hours just to deal with cybersecurity issues, in other time zones for weeks. I know you've punished her for this, but I feel I'm owed some type of compensation for this."

Mr. Rossi promised that he would personally work on getting her compensation for all the overtime as soon as possible. He just needed a little time to figure out how he was going to do that. Mrs. Granchio gave him a month to comply.

Next up was Mr. and Mrs. Chaveo, (Bat Ear), who happened to be in charge of Finances, Accounting and Human Resources.

Mr. Chaveo looked like he was going to explode as he explained the difficulties he was facing at the moment. "It has been a nightmare trying to find ways to pay the Security division for all their overtime. I've had to redistribute money from other departments just to make ends meet for this quarter.

Mrs. Chaveo added that she was having struggles in Human Resources as well. "Several of our trainees abruptly quit after the debacle with the company's AI chips. They were afraid for their careers and decided to leave rather than risk being associated with the scandal.

We've been reaching out to temp agencies to fill in for those who quit, but it will be a while before we have enough to train for full-time employment. I'm also dealing with problems between coworkers who are losing trust in each other."

Olivia promised to help fix things in Human Resources, while her husband would work with Mr. Chaveo to find a way to pay for all the overtime.

The Sables, (Tibetan Sand), grievances with Lila had to do with the position her lying had done when it came to the R&D division. They were still months away from releasing several of the new products, which Lila had boasted about.

"We are still researching half of the projects she mentioned to her classmates. The self-cleaning silverware is only in the early stages of development. However, we've received several emails demanding to know why there is a delay in receiving them."

Both of Lila's parents confirmed that they had already taken care of the problem and had managed to rectify the situation by making Lila not only apologize but gave back the down payment they had given her.

The other families included the Arcers, (Artic), the Andeans, (Culpeo), the Grise, (Grey), and lastly, the Fennels, (Fennec).

The Arcers, who headed up the Marketing Research stated how the company's profits would most likely tank if the Rossi's couldn't get Lila to behave properly. This was related to the fact they were related to the owners of the company and closely watched.

What would the public think if Lila's behaviors, in full detail, were made available to the general public? If people saw a rift in the family, Treasure Incorporated would appear they were abandoning their core values.

The Andeans were in charge of the Sales, Purchasing, and Distribution divisions. They were having to scramble to find ways to save money to make up for the surplus products that were being stored because they had nowhere to ship them to.

The Grise family ran the entire Legal division and Lila had caused them a migraine. They were trying to settle the lawsuit with the Bubbles quietly. It was a tricky situation because it had been Lila who had given their daughter faulty equipment, but the suit was against Treasures Incorporated for false advertisement.

The Fennels were up to their ears in complaints coming into the Customer Service division. It was not easy dealing with customers who demanded to know if their products had been sabotaged as their AI chips had been.

Then, of course, the other Rossi family members, namely Vino's sister, (whose husband had taken on her name), explained the troubles in General Management.

"Vino, you know I love my niece, but her attitude is impacting my family negatively. My daughter and youngest son are frightened of her. Todd is starting to mimic her bad behavior. It has to end now."

"I know little sister. Everyone, I understand the difficulties my daughter's recent actions have caused. My wife and I are working to ensure this doesn't happen again."

Olivia held back tears as she reminded everyone her daughter was suffering from a mental disorder and they were doing their best to help manage it. They would continue to do what was best for her and try to keep her problems out of the family business.

* * *

Isra Santos was having a challenging time concentrating on her mission since the Startrain attack. It had shaken her more than she cared to admit. She had never felt that helpless before.

Of course, she had faced similar problems. There was always something going on in the world that she couldn't stop. This was different because she had been the _only_ person in the world who could help and it scared her to think about the what-ifs.

She took a few breathes and forced herself to pay attention to what she was doing. She was talking with the Information Officer, Mr. Agraz and Editor Wainschenker.

Mr. Agraz was showing her the information he had gathered for the proposals. "As you can see I've been updating the information relating to the studies being done about the melting ice caps. Those include recent studies on how the situation with the melting ice caps is a more complex problem than originally thought."

Ms. Santos looked over the new information. It included how to construct new climate models based on the effects of freshwater from the melted ice mixing with the ocean currents. It also explained the results of the studies conducted showing the possibility of natural disasters occurring.

"This information is available to all the parties involved correct?"

Mr. Agraz nodded. "They have already reviewed it previously. What I'm suggesting is for the proposals is to remind the parties of this information. We should also show them the daily changes going on in Antarctica up to a week before the meeting."

"Good idea, this will show how quickly the problems are evolving and put pressure on the parties and the EPA to pass any proposals made. I would like you to continue to gather as much information about what's currently going on Antarctica, including how the different parties involved might be affecting each other's research."

Editor Wainschenker then presented her the edited drafts he was working on for the proposals. They were looking good and she urged him to make sure the proposals were grammatically correct in all the different languages the parties used.

After she was completed her meeting, she decided to contact her supervisors to let them know what was going on. After bidding the staff to not disturb her for one hour, she went into the conference room to make her video call. She made sure to lock the doors and check to make sure her video link was private.

Her call was answered by the UK Representative and she didn't seem surprised by the call. "I assume you're calling about what happened a few days ago with the flying train?"

"Actually, I was going to give you an update on my work here. I wanted to let you know that the situation here is going well. The new proposal ideas are very precise and focused on the most concerning issues at the moment.

I have no doubt when the proposals are brought up at the annual meeting that at least one of them will be approved. Hopefully, it will be all five. The team here is dedicated to their job to ensure the next meeting is a huge success."

The UK representative inclined her head, a gesture to indicate she was satisfied with Ning's success. Her face became serious again. "It is a good thing that the ATS is dedicated. I have no doubt they can complete the rest of the work without you."

The only indication that Ning was caught off guard was the slight widening of one eye. "You have a new assignment for me? When is my briefing?"

"Now. The incident with the train not only affected Paris but London as well. Citizens are terrified to take the train between the two countries. If the terrorist Hawkmoth can send a train into space then he is capable of sending his akumas out of France to other countries?"

"Madame, my team in Paris stated that this was an isolated incident and provided evidence that the terrorist had no control over the Akuma once it left the city."

"You'll have to show the council the evidence later. You will be leaving Buenos Aires in two days so that you may finish your work there. We will be sending you to Paris for the next three weeks to work with your team there.

We want you to internment Hawkmoth to end the threat he poses. If you are unable to, at the very least, the Security Council wants you to diminish his terrorizing efforts. Understood Peace Keeper?"

She nodded and her supervisor dismissed her. "Looks like I'll be cashing in that favor sooner than expected."

* * *

Three days passed and it was late afternoon in the City of Love. They massage shop was closed for the day.

Master Fu was busy building something for his Apprentice. The active Kwamiis in the shop floated around watching him. The only one missing was Sunny, who was currently with Marinette, exploring the modern world.

Fu was polishing a crystal sphere that he was going to be attaching to a polished wood staff that had a metal base.

"What are you doing Great Guardian?" Honorra asked curiously. She felt a sense of familiarity with the different parts, but couldn't remember why.

"I'm creating a staff for Ning to use to channel her magic."

The Kwamiis looked at each other confused. Ning already knew how to cast wards, make potions, and channel the power of the Kwami Charms. Why did she need a staff?

Master Fu sensed their confusion and laughed a little. "All Apprentices are given a staff to help them build up their magic reserves and assist them in casting certain spells, such as the one I use to create a shortcut between locations."

"Casting wards isn't considered a big spell?" Prickker questioned.

Master Fu shook his head and stated that casting wards was one of the first spells trainees learned. Wards were spells for protection and to keep evil out. The stronger the aspiration the more powerful the spell.

Ning's desire to keep the world safe and bring about peace was her core belief so it was easy for her to cast powerful protection spells. However, Great Guardians needed to know many different spells if they were going to keep a close eye on the Miraculous they had to watch over.

"How long will it take for Ning to build up her reserves so that she doesn't need the staff to cast big spells?" Flapper asked as she balanced on the staff.

"It is different for everyone. I only needed the staff for a year. My mentor was very proud of my ability to learn so quickly. He said I had a natural talent for magic."

The old man's eyes glazed slightly as he recollected how his mentor had told him that he believed he would be a great mentor for his own Apprentice when he became a Great Guardian. It was awe-inspiring that Master Zhu had that much faith in him.

Wayzz brought over a tissue over and the old man wiped his eyes. "Sentimentality will always get to you. I'm glad I have so many nice memories. It makes up for the heartache when the temple fell."

Upon hearing this, all the Kwamiis swarmed the man, giving him a much-needed hug. They knew he felt guilty for what happened. He had trusted the wrong person and he felt like he murdered everyone in the temple, which wasn't the case.

"You can't keep blaming yourself for the actions of another. It's not healthy," Zippy stated in a kind tone.

"If you feel the need to release the burden then talk to your daughter next time she visits," Jill advised.

At that moment, Fu's phone chimed. The EMC Kwamiis backed off a little, still a bit scared of the fancy communication device. Fu didn't recognize the number so he let the phone ring for a bit.

There was a double chime, indicating a voicemail had been left. Cautiously, he opened the voicemail, prepared to destroy the phone, if any dark magic was contained in the message.

A familiar voice filled the air though it was heavily accented. "Mr. Chan. This is Isra Santos, a friend of your daughter's. We just met up in Buenos Aires three days ago. She said she was heading home and when I guessed New York, she corrected me by saying Paris. I hope she arrives safely tonight and enjoys her three weeks visiting you.

I have to so I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. Tell your daughter I said hi. Bye."

The EMC Kwamiis looked at their "cousins" confused by the message. Who was Mr. Chan and why did this woman call about his daughter when she was supposed to be a secret?

Seeing their confusion, Wayzz and Honorra explained what was going on as they helped Master Fu set up the guest room. The EMC already had a basic idea of who Ning was and what her job was.

It was astonishing to learn how many precautions had to be taken to avoid people finding out she existed. Even the anonymous Order of the Guardians and the Miraculouses never had as many precautions to keep them from being discovered.

"It shows how much she loves she has for the Great Guardian and the Miraculouses if she's going so far to keep her bosses from discovering the truth behind all this," Flapper twittered.

"It also shows how happy her job makes her. Traveling the world to bring peace and also working to preserve magic must be a thrilling endeavor," Stella squeaked.

A few hours later after the city was engulfed in the cloak of night, there was a knock on the back door. Master Fu checked who it was and opened the door letting in Isra Santos aka Ning Sun.

"Did anyone besides the Kwamiis see me come in?" the woman asked. The man shook his head assuring her that no one noticed her arrival. He took note she was traveling light with just one small suitcase.

"I sent most of my things back to New York. My supervisors will make sure the bags will be returned to my bunker. Sorry for the late notice, my superiors wanted to keep quiet about this trip."

Master Fu could hear her unspoken words. Her supervisors were getting extremely concerned since the last akumanzation had reached international news. Sending his daughter on such short notice and with a limited amount of time indicated they wanted her to solve this problem quickly and quietly.

The young woman cracked her neck slightly after sitting in a plane for a thirteen and a half hours. Nobody should have to sit stiffly for so long. She headed to the main shop so her father could work the tension out of her body. They could discuss business tomorrow.

* * *

It was late morning when Ning finally woke up. Traveling between so many time zones and getting her disguise off always left her tired out. Normally she couldn't sleep in, but when she was in Paris, she took advantage of it.

Once in the kitchen/dining area, she realized everyone was gone. There was a note on the fridge stating that the small group had gone to pick up a special delivery at the post office and would be back soon.

On the kitchen table was the Miraculous Book. Lying next to it was a freshly made memory stone. She felt it calling out to her. Taking a seat at the table she reached out and touched the memory stone.

_Ning found herself in a garden. She looked around and could see mountain peaks in the distance. The garden consisted of several different wildflowers you would find in the lower elevations of Tibet. _

_Different types of moss were attached to rocks spread out in a lovely fashion. There were also Himalayan firs mixed with tundra-like vegetation, rocky terrain plants, and occasional buckhorn bushes and junipers.  
_

_ Seeing a patch of snow lilies near a wall she walked over and marveled at their beauty. Hauling herself up she looked at what was behind the wall. _

_She was at the temple built for the Order of the Guardians. She recognized it from the Miraculous Book. She had never notice before there was a large area outside the complex for growing food and beyond that, she could see wild animals.  
_

_ There was a heard of Kiangs running down the slopes without breaking their legs across the rocky terrain. In the sky above a Tibetan eagle soared. _

_ She heard voices coming from the far side of the garden and got off the wall. Walking through the garden she saw two teenage boys. One, she instantly knew was her father as a teenager. The other she didn't recognize, but she felt a lot of negativity coming from the boy. _

_The teenager had extremely dark hair and dark eyes. Unlike the trainee's outfit, his was black and that worried her. It was not one of the five pure colors associated with the country.  
_

_ "I have nowhere to go Fu. My family already has too many mouths to feed. If you would put a good word in for me, I'm sure your masters would allow me to train here in the temple."_

_Fu bit his lip and as he spoke in a kind voice. "Being a guest for a few days here is not the same as becoming a full time member Wangchuck. We train from early morning to late at night.  
_

_ There are tests to take and there are several books we must memorize each day. Our lives are harsh here, with very little interaction with the rest of the world. If you stay here, you might never see your family again." _

_ Wangchuck insisted that it would be a problem. He was smart, capable, and would be happy here knowing that his family was safe. "Why are you hesitating my friend? Does it have to do with the secretive nature of the people here?" _

_ Fu was caught off guard and fumbled as he responded. "There is nothing here that is secretive. We are merely guarding cultural treasures from being stolen by outsiders."_

_Wangchuck gave Fu the stink eye. "You are not fooling me, Fu. I am part of this culture as well. If you know what they are, then why are I and my family unable to learn the truth?"  
_

_ Fu couldn't find an argument for that one. "What I tell you stays between us understood?" _

_ Wangchuck nodded and leaned forward. His eyes widened as Fu whispered about the Miraculouses and what they were used for. "Now, I really want to stay here. Can you please talk to your masters about my desire? I promise to never tell the secret of this temple no matter what they say." _

_ The memory faded and the picked up once more. Judging by the position of the sun it was a few hours later. The two boys were in the garden once more, but Wangchuck was yelling at Fu. _

_ "You're lying! You never tried to get your masters to accept me as a trainee! I thought we were friends!" _

_ "We are! I did talk to them and they were angry with me for trusting you with this secret. They're doing this to punish me not you." _

_"Well, it turns out they're punishing me too. Thanks for nothing Fu!" The boy stormed off angrily and muttering curses.  
_

_The memory faded and a new one appeared. Time had passed and she found herself inside the dorms. Her father appeared about a year older and was gazing out his window.  
_

_ Suddenly, he looked alarmed and she peered about the window. She saw coming up the path a squadron of people, all dressed in black. Each of them carrying magical staffs. In front of them were tiny blue creatures, which reminded her of the Pokémon, Trapinch, lashing out thei long tongues. _

_Voices carried throughout the complex. The elders were yelling something about the Society of the Exiles. People were already rushing out to defend their homes.  
_

Ning pulled out of the memory and found herself no longer alone in the kitchen. Her father had returned with the Kwamiis and was looking at her, wondering what she was going to say.

"Your memories," she started to say before she paused. "Do you really think this Wangchuck was responsible for the Society of the Exiles for attacking the temple?"

Fu's eyes scrunched together in confusion. "What is the Society of the Exiles?"

It was Ning's turn to be confused. "That's what the elders called the group attacking the temple. Didn't you hear them?"

Fu shook his head. "It was absolute chaos that day. People were running and shouting. Securing the Miraculouses and trying to get everyone to safety by use of a back trail."

He sat down and pulled the Miraculous Book towards him. The Kwamiis all landed on the table. The Great Guardian flipped through the pages until he came to a page that was written in extensive code.

It took a few minutes to decipher and then he read the entry. "It is a warning. The Society of Exiles was made up of those banished from the temple. They couldn't make their own Miraculous as the spells to do such a thing have been lost for centuries.

Instead, they enchanted their staffs to pull the negativity from inside them to cause destruction and chaos. They vowed to destroy the Order of the Guardians for exiling them."

He pushed the book over to his daughter and she read the rest of the page to herself. The Society recruited all who had been scorned by the Order. Their ultimate goal was to take back the Miraculouses and use them for their own gains.

No doubt my father's old friend joined this group. That doesn't mean the blame for the attack rest on his shoulders entirely.

Ning placed a hand over Fu's and squeezed. "Just because you told one person doesn't mean you are solely responsible for the attack. You told me the Order did both good and bad deeds. It's just a coincidence that the attack happened a year after your friend left. You shouldn't blame yourself." The Kwamiis added their encouragements, allowing the man to finally let go of his guilt and have a good cry.

* * *

Later that day, Sunny and Tikki were hiding in Marinette's purse. A new artifact that had been found by Alix's father was being unveiled. The whole class was there and even local reporters. Adrien was, of course, is accompanied by Nathalie and the Gorilla.

"I can't wait to see what Alix's dad found on his last expedition. She mentioned he found it deep in the mountains of Tibet."

Sunny looked over at her "cousin" sharply. "How deep in the country was he? What if he found something related to the Order of the Guardians? We should check this out before the unveiling."

Tikki shook her head at the other kwami. "You're getting ahead of yourself Sunny. If it was something to worry about wouldn't we feel it?"

The skunk gave her a hard look. Peeking out of the purse the Kwami of Disgust looked around. The clock on the wall said the unveiling would start in five minutes.

Ignoring Tikki's protests, Sunny phased out of the purse and crawled to the floor. Making sure she was hidden by Marinette's feet Sunny phased under the floor and then phased back up behind the curtain.

The closer she got the more her hackles were raised. Levitating in front of the statue she gasped. If Kwamiis could vomit she would be doing just that. Why was the symbol of the Guardians with two slash marks over it, on this statue?

Moving slightly closer, she felt extremely cold. Blinking her eyes, she thought she saw the statue crumbling. She backed off and made her way back the purse.

Once back inside, Tikki started to admonish Sunny for her stunt when she told her to put a sock in it. "That thing behind the curtain. It has the symbol of the Guardians on it, only the symbol has two slash marks over it."

Tikki's eyes widened even more. "Mr. Kubdel was that close to the temple? But it's nearly impossible to get to, especially from the lack of care for nearly two hundred years."

Both Kwamiis were jolted as Marinette moved closer to the front. The curtain went up and Mr. Kubdel was telling everyone about his discovery when there was a thump beside him.

"Alix!" her father cried out. He bent down to check on her with the reporters taking pictures when a lot of people started to faint. The media turned around and they saw several teenagers and an adult woman had fallen on the floor.

The Gorilla was torn between checking on Adrien or Nathalie. Adrien was moaning on the floor. Nathalie was withering on the floor as she started to grow very pale.

Rose and Juleka had fainted next to each other. Rose's hands were twitching and Juleka legs started to shake. Max had fainted on top of Kim and both of them had a sheen of sweat on their bodies.

Alya had fallen forward, her phone skidding all across the room as her breath became uneven. Nino had a nice bruise forming on his face where he had slammed into the floor.

Inside Marinette's purse, Tikki watched anxiously as her wielder jerked slightly. "Marinette! Oh, we need to do something! If only there weren't so many people."

"I know one way to clear a room." Sunny peeked out again and still saw chaos. Focusing her energy she released her power into the room. "Gross Out."

Since she hadn't used her power on an object or a person, her power simply spread throughout the museum. People started to feel sick or started to hallucinate about whatever disgusted them the most. Several crowds went running for the exits.

* * *

That's when something truly disgusting and scary happened. The statue started to form cracks all over it. A musty smell filled the air as the temperature dropped.

Suddenly, stone chips went flying everywhere. Sitting on top of the pedestal was the creature from Master Fu's memory. It shook the remainder of the stone chips off and its eyes zeroed in on Alix and her father.

The creature's vision revealed the level of magic and potential a person had. Mr. Kubdel had none, but Alix had a lot. The creature yelled out "Feast!" then its tongue lashed out, it stuck to Alix, and swallowed her up in one gulp.

"ALIX!" Mr. Kubdel launched at Feast determined to get his daughter back. Feast rammed into the man's legs sending him crashing into the pedestal it once sat on.

Feast's tongue lashed out and quickly swallowed Alya and Nino. It then targeted Juleka and Rose and swallowed them. It also swallowed Mylene by accident when she had run over to protect her friends.

The same thing happened when Nathaniel and Ivan tried to keep Feast from eating Kim and Max. Feast had grown larger after consuming the teenagers and then its attention was on Ms. Bustier, specifically the person she was helping out.

Nathalie was semi-conscious. She was weakly insisting that she needed to stay and help Adrien. The teacher kept a firm grip on the woman to keep her from going back.

Feast pounced on top of Ms. Bustier squishing her under its weight. The teacher screamed in agony before the creature leaped off her and swallowed Nathalie.

The Gorilla grunted loudly and attacked Feast. The creature and man wrestled around as neither would let go of each other.

With Feast distracted Chloe and Sabrina managed to get Marinette and Adrien to the safety of the employee lounge. Sabrina called her father to tell him about the situation while Chloe started piling things in front of the door to prevent the creature from getting inside.

"My dad and the entire police force are on their way. The TV reporters were broadcasting live so the heroes should be on their way. Hopefully, they can stop that creature."

"How? It's not an Akuma. This isn't some kind of curse either like what happened with Adrikins. What if the heroes can't save us?" Chloe replied in a shaky voice. She hoped the creature was defeat before she learned the answer to that question.

* * *

Back in the main part of the museum Feast was sniffing around trying to find the source of the strongest magic he could find. It had swallowed everyone he had come across. Not all of them had magic but most wouldn't get out of its way.

The creature was determined to eat the strongest source of magic. The Society of Exiles had created it for this purpose. Feast was to consume as much magic as possible before delivering it back to its masters.

Feast stopped in its tracks. It sniffed the air. It could smell strong magic coming from two directions. One was a few hallways over, but the other was coming from the entrance.

Turning around, it went back to where it had just come from. The smell was getting stronger the closer it got to the entrance. Upon entering the room it stopped in its tracks.

Standing in front of Feast was one of its masters! It didn't recognize the young woman, but she was carrying a staff and wore the symbol associated with the Society.

"Feast! You have done well my servant. Now, I require you to release the magic you have collected to me!"

Feast nodded and regurgitated everyone it had swallowed. The saliva in its mouth kept them from waking up and trying to escape. The creature sat down waiting for its reward.

"You've done well my servant. I thank you for your service. Allow me to reward you." The young woman started whispering a spell. The crystal on the staff glowed bright blue.

Feast opened its mouth so the spell's magic could enter it. As the blue magic filled its mouth it felt itself returning to the void where it had come from. It tried to stop eating the spell, but it was impossible. One minute later it vanished from sight and no longer a threat.

Peace Keeper lowered her staff and did her best to stay upright. She was exhausted after using most of her magic reserves to hold the illusion of her as Ladybug and channeling part of Plagg's power into the spell to get rid of the creature.

Thank you, Sunny for warning us. I hope I never have to come across another magic consuming demon in my life she thought to herself. Looking down at the people gathered, it was going to take a while to clean this mess up.


	5. Fear

**This chapter has a new Akuma and it stands in for the Chat Blanc episode. If you read my other stories you know that if Gabriel/Hawkmoth breaks his vow of not akumatizing his son again, Adrien would become a werecat forever. **

** I hope that you all enjoy this original Akuma and that the rest of the chapter makes you all happy.**

* * *

The media was having a field day with speculations about the attack of the Feast demon yesterday. Experts in mythology were debating about what the creature had been. Die hard scientists refused to believe the security footage was real.

Meanwhile, Nadja and Alec were busy interview different doctors about what happened to cause so many people to faint when the statue/demon was first revealed or why so many people reported they were nauseated or hallucinated as they made their way out the building.

"Don't be bemused it's just the news. I'm Nadja Chamack. Today we're speaking with Dr. Goodwin, an expert in rare diseases. Dr. Goodwin, in your expert opinion, what could have caused so many people to have such a violent reaction once the magical statue was revealed and why was there no reaction when the statue was first brought in?"

"Thank you, Nadja. To answer your question when artifacts are found and transported. Archeologists are very careful when they excavate artifacts. Everyone wears gloves and masks to avoid any contamination of the artifact at all times.

Initial tests on an artifact are usually superficial. A variety of techniques are used to preserve artifacts in pristine condition during transport. When a new artifact is brought in to a museum many times it is kept in an isolation room for closer studies.

In my expert opinion, the statue shell had some ancient bacteria lying dormant in it. Once it was exposed in a more open environment the bacteria had time to spread throughout the museum.

Depending on a person's immune system and how it handled the bacteria was the determining factor that caused some people to faint and others to become nauseated and hallucinate."

"Dr. Goodwin, why do you think this creature gobbled up so many teenagers?"

"Again it has to do with their responses to whatever bacteria was on the statue. They were easy prey for the creature to consume and it appeared to be attracted to the smell of the most vulnerable of the people assembled."

Ning turned the TV off tired of listening to the news. "We're lucky that the scenario Dr. Goodwin explained would apply if magic wasn't involved," she told her father.

Master Fu nodded. "Everyone, save Ms. Sancoeur, happened to be Miraculous wielders. Adrien mentioned that Ms. Sancoeur has been having recent health problems. It's entirely possible that in her weakened state some of the magic from her proximity to Adrien has attached to her."

Ning nodded but filed the fact in her mind to do further investigation should evidence showed that Ms. Sancoeur indeed had magic. "Controlling that creature took a lot out of me. I've never had to focus so much magical energy on one thing before. We're very lucky that my fake emblem worked. Feast seemed very devoted to a person connected with the society that it didn't question my lack of negative energy."

"Indeed. You will need to train harder to get your magic reserves bigger. Hopefully, you'll get time to practice with me while you're here."

"Not today I won't. My superiors want me to interview Mr. Kubdel as myself. They feel he would be more open to a "superheroine" than a regular visitor. Wish me luck."

Peace Keeper was slightly uneasy as she made her way to the museum. While she was confident and knew how to extract information without force she was slightly confused by her superior's actions to revealing herself to a civilian. After all, her existence was a tightly kept secret for a reason.

Finding a service entrance, she entered the museum and turned on her stealth mode. Her suit activated the weave of transparent plastic and contained her body heat. She adjusted the filter on her mask to read body heat so she knew how many people she would be going through.

As she made her way to the off-limit areas of the museum she wondered why the Kubdel family actually lived there. She had done some research and she couldn't find anything about any family living in the actual museum they worked at. Some curators would live in properties near the museum or there was a curator's house on the grounds.

At one point she had to jump up and crawled upside-down along the ceiling because of how much foot traffic there was. Once the foot traffic was gone she dropped to the ground and proceeded the rest of the way on foot.

Finally, she reached the area in the museum that had once been rooms for French royalty to stay in. Her filters identified one male inside the residence. Judging by height and the outline of the person's body she knew it was Mr. Kubdel.

She entered the home and quietly closed the door. Watching where she stepped she entered Mr. Kubdel's room where the man was sitting. He appeared to be engrossed in a book.

She deactivated her stealth mode and her mask's filters returned to normal. She cleared her throat and the man finally looked up and jerked back falling out of his chair and scrambling on the floor to get back up.

Snatching an old fashion letter opener that was lying on the dresser he pointed it at her and in a shaky voice, "Who are you? What are you doing in my home?!"

Raising her hands she tried to calm the man down. "Mr. Kubdel, I mean you no harm. I'm a friend of Ladybug. My name is Peace Keeper and…."

The man took a swing at her with the letter opener. She backed up a few steps to avoid being cut. "Please sir, I'm a superheroine just like…."

Mr. Kubdel slashed at her chest. Her suit protected her from receiving any injuries. When he came after her again, this time she disarmed him and pushed him back a few steps.

"I won't let you hurt my family or me Akuma!" Mr. Kubdel shrieked as he hurled a lamp at her. "I will not be helpless again!" When he saw how easily the woman avoided being hit he came at her fists flying.

Peace Keeper ducked under the sloppy punches. It was clear to her, that Mr. Kubdel was still overwhelmed by yesterday's events and that having her "magically" appear in his room was not helping the situation.

"Sir, I'm not trying to hurt you! I just need to ask you a few questions! I'm trying to find out more about the demon attack yesterday…"

"That was you wasn't it?! You summoned that demon that hurt my Alix!" Mr. Kubdel kept trying to hit Peace Keeper who was in a bit of a dilemma. She was supposed to be a superheroine so it wouldn't do her any favors if she restrained him.

She was also worried about using one of her sedatives because if she did she might not get intelligent responses. That's when she spotted an akuma flying towards Mr. Kubdel.

She tackled Mr. Kubdel to the ground shielding him with her body. She raised her left arm and the akuma merged with her analyzer/scanner. She felt her mind connect with Hawkmoth once more.

"What? How did my akuma find you?" Hawkmoth stated in a stunned voice.

"I'm not letting you akumatized this man. He's suffered enough, Hawkmoth," Peace Keeper gritted out. She signaled for Mr. Kubdel to get out of the room.

He got up and made it to the door only for the curator to stop and look back at the women. She was on her hands and knees talking back to Hawkmoth and telling him to go away and not return.

Mr. Kubdel realized he had made a horrible mistake as the woman's face filled with pain. "Get the heroes here now! I don't know how long I can hold him off!"

As soon as Alix's father was gone Peace Keeper tried to gain the upper hand. "Get out of my head! You will not control me!"

Hawkmoth chuckled and poured more of power into her. "I can help you bring about change Warmonger. Accept my power and then I will have done the favor you asked of me."

"NO! AHHHHHHHH!" Peace Keeper screamed as she clutched Nooroo's Kwami Charm in her right hand as the akumanzation process started to take over. Purple and black smoke covered the left side of her body. Her right side of her body started to glow mauve.

The smoke and glow vanished at the same time. Now she was split right down the middle. Her right side remained normal and under her control. Her left side now resembled a female version of Genghis Kong's wearing his battle outfit.

She let out a war cry before busting through the wall and onto the streets of Paris. Peace Keeper tried to stop her Warmonger side from lifting her arm, but couldn't stop herself as she zapped people turning them into crazy Mongolian soldiers.

"Follow me my soldiers and wage war on Paris! No don't ahh!" the soldiers gathered around her and they started to march through the city to gather more troops.

* * *

A few minutes later, Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived at the museum where a frantic Mr. Kubdel was waiting anxiously. "Thank goodness you're here. I hoped by posting an alert on the LadyNoir blog you would get here quickly."

"Thank you for alerting us about the Akuma. Do you know who this person is and what they want?"

The man looked down somewhat ashamed. "Before I continue, do you know someone by the name of Peace Keeper?" Seeing the heroes widen in fear Ladybug demanded to know where he got that name from.

"A young woman wearing a uniform suddenly appeared in my home. She said she was a friend of yours Ladybug and that she wanted to ask me some questions. I didn't believe her and I attacked her with fear and anger."

"Which attracted the akuma, but how did our friend get akumatized? She should be protected from the process," Chat Noir sternly inquired.

"She took the akuma meant for me. She was fighting Hawkmoth off when she ordered me to leave." He stood anxiously as Ladybug check the news feed and had a brief conversation with Chat Noir.

"We'll handle the situation Mr. Kubdel. We appreciate it if you didn't mention Peace Keeper to anyone. She's a valuable member of our team who must remain a secret from the public. It's vital to her role on the team."

The man nodded as the two heroes took off to stop their friend from causing trouble.

Once they were out of earshot the two heroes started talking again. "I can't believe we're having a repeat incident with someone only halfway akumatized. I thought we were done with that after Hawkmoth stopped trying to use homegrown akumas," Chat remarked as they pressed on.

"Peace Keeper may have stopped Startrain, but that doesn't mean he still doesn't want all of Nooroo's power for himself. We need to finish this fight quickly without anyone catching on that half of her is still normal," Ladybug replied.

Chat nodded in agreement. "Get Rene Rouge and Sirius. I think they're the best ones to help in this situation. I'll keep our friend occupied bugaboo." Ladybug peeled off and Chat Noir surged forward intent on finding his friend.

By now, Warmonger/Peace Keeper had gathered a small army and they were marching on the police station. Peace Keeper kept struggling to gain complete control over her body, but Warmonger was stronger it seemed.

"The police don't protect anyone! They're mercenaries who will look the other way for quick cash! Down with-no! The police are protectors of people and try their best to keep people safe."

Her right side planted her foot and she wrapped her arm around a streetlamp. Her left arm tried to pry her right off the post. "Soldiers! Help me right now!"

Two soldiers flanked Warmonger/Peace Keeper. Using brute strength they nearly tore the arm around the post off the woman's body. Now free once more, Warmonger started to march once more towards the police station.

The police were busy setting up a roadblock to prevent anyone from getting caught in the crossfire. "Remember everyone! We're detaining the Akuma until Ladybug gets here."

The Mongolian soldiers were marching straight towards the roadblock. They raised their hand axes and composite bows ready to attack the police when Chat Noir tackled their leader.

"I think you took a wrong turn because Mongolia is in the opposite direction," Chat Noir joked as he wrestled with the half Akuma. He couldn't say anything too personal because Hawkmoth was listening in.

"I hate cats! You're going to make a great fur cape!" Warmonger growled as her hand moved towards his throat. She wrapped it around his neck and started squeezing his airway.

Chat Noir was struggling to breathe. He could feel his windpipe being crushed. He was losing oxygen fast and couldn't reach behind for his baton.

Then the pressure was off his neck. Taking a full gulp of air, he blinked his eyes a few times and saw Warmonger/Peace Keeper had let him go.

"Stand down soldiers! No one attack! Yes, attack no! I said no and I mean no!" The half that was Peace Keeper pulled out her rope dart and quickly wrapped it tightly around the arm with the blaster to prevent from forming new soldiers.

Hawkmoth mask flickered into existence then sputtered out by a roar. "Do something!" the Akuma yelled at Chat Noir.

He took out his baton and extended it. He then came at his opponent on her good side.

Warmonger/Peace Keeper twisted her body so the Warmonger part got hit hard on the side. The weapon came back around only lower this time striking the backside of her lower leg.

There was pain, but not enough to stop her from counterattacking. She took several swings at the hero who dodged some of them. The last one to his stomach connected and he went flying down the street.

Warmonger/Peace Keeper started to walk towards him when she felt something wrap around her legs and pull her to the ground. "Ladybug! You're a pest!" she shouted at her.

"I've been called worse names. This isn't who you are. Take control of your body," Ladybug urged.

"What do you I'm trying…" the woman's face contorted painfully as the sides clashed for control. "Shut up Ladybug! Soldiers attack!"

Rene Rouge and Sirius appeared on the scene. Both heroes took on the soldiers. Rene Rouge attacked from a distance. She played her flute to draw in the soldiers before attacking them when they got closer.

Sirius was using his brain taking in everything around him. He then flipped around the soldiers getting in close to hit them with his bat before moving out of the way.

Warmonger/Peace Keeper freed her legs from the yo-yo string and went after Ladybug. The heroine tossed her magical weapon around trying to slow the Akuma down, but that side appeared able to tolerate pain well.

Chat Noir returned to assist his partner and while they managed to prevent her from attacking civilians, she was too powerful to defeat. They needed to cleanse her now.

"Rene Rouge! Play your tune!" Ladybug shouted.

Rene Rouge tossed one soldier over her shoulder and into a dumpster then spun on her heels and played a familiar tune on her flute. Flinging it outward she called out her power. "Spirit Foxes!"

The two transparent blue foxes appeared in front of the half Akuma. Without hesitating they clamped their jaws around her ankles and started pulling her away from the police and media.

The spirit foxes stopped once they were in an enclosed area of a small garden. Dropping their prey, they returned to Rene Rouge's flute as her necklace started its countdown.

Sirius leaped forward and called on his power, "Fateful Choice!" He pressed his hand on the akumatized side of the body. Seeing what would happen if the Akuma side continued to attack people, it gave up.

Chat Noir used his Cataclysm to destroy the rope dart so Ladybug could smash the scanner/analyzer with her yo-yo. The black butterfly flew out and was quickly purified as everything was returned to normal.

"Are you okay?" Ladybug asked as she helped her friend stand up instead of doing her usual pound it with her teammates.

Peace Keeper assured her she would be. "Right now I'm more concerned how much got out about me."

Rene Rouge stepped forward. "Not as much as you think. Those who glimpsed of you thought you were akumatized to represent war and peace so they don't know it was the real you fighting.

I also used an illusion when we were fighting to keep people away when we took you away to be purified. On the street back there they think Ladybug freed a soldier who was having a bad day."

Peace Keeper was relieved to hear this. Her superiors didn't want to clean up after her again. Saying her goodbyes she hurried away. There was no way she was going back to the museum after the day she had. She was going to her father's house to talk about what happened to her.

* * *

The first thing Fu did before Peace Keeper entered the home was to ensure there wasn't any residual trace of Hawkmoth or the akuma in his daughter. After verifying that she was cleansed and it was safe to enter, she hugged the man.

"I can never show you how happy I am that you are alright. When Marinette explained what was going on I feared you would lose yourself completely."

Peace Keeper squeezed the old man tighter. "I was afraid of that as well. My worst fear was coming true. I was truly helpless in a situation." The two parted from each other.

Prickker scratched her leg wanting to be picked up. She did so and started to nuzzle him, careful of his tiny spines. "Do you want some cauliflower?" he asked her.

She shook her head and announced she was going to change in her room. Prickker followed her, motioning for his "siblings' to stay back. He was the one needed to help the Great Guardian's daughter understand her fears.

He respectfully faced away from the young woman as she changed her outfit. "So being helpless is one of your greatest fears?" he asked initiating the conversation.

"I was created and trained from the time I was two years old on how to protect myself and others. I know countless self-defense styles and can wield weapons with deadly accuracy. I should _never_ be helpless."

The kwami stayed silent as heard Ning finish taking off her suit muttering about getting in cleaned. There was the sound of a drawer opening and shuffling of feet. Giving it another minute he spoke up. "Do you think your fear of failure has added to the fear of being helpless?"

"I already dealt with being overconfident! I approached the situation as I was ordered to exactly and Mr. Kubdel freaked out. I couldn't let him get akumatized!"

Prickker glanced behind him and saw that Ning was fully redressed in one of her business suits. Turning all the way around he confronted her. "I know you couldn't let an innocent be akumatized and that's why you did what you did. You thought you would be protected thanks to Nooroo."

She nodded and muttered something about Hawkmoth getting a beat down if she ever saw him in person. "I only had control of half of my body. It was awful trying to stop myself, but at the same time I was getting a thrill from attacking people."

She sat down heavily on the bed and gripped the covers. There was more going on than just being frightened that she ended up partially akumatized. Prickker levitated over and tapped her nose while saying, "Frayed Nerves."

The rigid control she had over her fears vanished as she began spilling about all her fears related to this incident and why she was still frightened.

Prickker listened calmly as Ning spoke about her feelings of helplessness were not just about her personally. She also feared how other people could get hurt if she wasn't there to offer aid and protection.

There were fears about what happened to Nooroo because of this incident. Had she hurt him by drawing on his power to keep half of herself from going full Akuma? Could his power be waning explaining why she couldn't stop herself on her own?

A big part of her fear was that her superiors would see how vulnerable she could be and request her immediate return to NYC. She had been pushed hard through the toughest training regimen and worried they would force her to retrain before she was ever let out again.

Once she finished speaking, Prickker took a deep breath and relaxed his spines. "Your fears are valid Ning. It's not a weakness to admit you're frightened about being helpless. You can train and be prepared for any situation yet still become helpless. Instead of letting the fear take control, you have to accept it. Accepting it is hard I know. However, it is the first step to conquering it."

When Ning came out of the bedroom and back to the front room all her tears were gone. She had a small smile on her face and was very relaxed and calm.

* * *

The next day, it was time for some Great Guardian training. Master Fu was going to teach her a new skill. "Today, we will be discussing an important part of being a Great Guardian. The ability to identify who has the potential to become a Miraculous wielder."

His daughter blinked. She was good at reading people and sensing magic. Wasn't that enough to determine if someone would make a good wielder?

"There is more to picking a wielder than just their characteristics and potential to use magic. You must be able to look into a person's true self. To see their mind, heart, and soul."

He looked at Ning who felt as if he was seeing all the layers that made her who she was. "When you were just six years old, you showed enormous potential. You were able to use two Kwami Charms without even bonding with the Kwamiis they represented."

Wayzz moved forward and settled on the table looking up into Ning's eyes. "A child of pure innocence with a mind and heart focused on bringing about peace to the world. Your soul wasn't created by the scientist who made you. You formed who you wanted to be."

Hearing this made her feel so happy that Stella started to fly around her head and she whistled in joy. Honorra joined in and soon all the Kwamiis were expressing how pleased they were to have her as the next Great Guardian.

Master Fu picked up Ning's staff and handed it over to her. "You will need to use powerful magic if you wish to use this technique for now." Once she took the staff he stood up and told her they were going into the backyard to practice.

Apparently, to use this spell she needed to start outside until she could refine her control enough to use it indoors. The Kwamiis watched from the window as the lesson began.

"Spread your legs apart and bend slightly at your knees. Shift your weight so it's not all in your hips. Hold the staff in your right hand while using your left to protect the jewel at the end of your staff."

Ning did as he asked and he gently prodded her body until her feet were half an inch further apart and her left arm wasn't so rigid. "Remember to breathe through your nose and let out through your mouth as you are speaking the incantation."

Ning watched her father as he went through each movement of the spell step by step. She copied what he did only for him to tell her she went to fast through the motions. The next time it was too slow.

The movements needed to be sleek, supple, and precise. It was important to be aware of everything around her while also pushing it to the back of her mind so it wouldn't distract her.

The first movement was taking a step forward with her left foot, then lean back on her right. The second was for her to pull the staff back slightly. The third step was to brush the crystal with her left hand.

The last step was when her left hand was out of the way, she would extend her right arm forward and aim at her target. She performed the steps again and then looked up. "Did I do it right this time?"

Fu smiled before pulling out his gong and started hitting it. The noise was unbelievably loud. He hit it a few more times and yelled at her to do the movements again without messing up.

The noise was throwing her balance off as she tried to cover her ears. She didn't even make it to the first movement when the gong sound started getting louder as Master Fu started striking a slightly larger gong.

She went through the movements and felt herself mess up on the third step. She tried again and messed up on the last step. The third time she managed to get through it despite the noise.

"Good job. There will always be something going on to distract you as you perform this spell. You need to know it's there and make it white noise so you can still perform the spell. I'm going to now teach you the words of the spell. I need to make sure you're pronouncing them correctly."

They ran through the spell five times. Ning didn't need that many times to memorize it or speak it clearly. Fu was just being cautious as this was a big step in training his Apprentice.

Finally, it was time. Master Fu took several steps away from Ning as she focused her energy. The UN agent felt her magic starting to grow inside her. Once she felt she had enough magic she performed the motions while saying the incantation.

The glow from the staff was so bright, the Kwamiis all had to shut their eyes and turn away from the window. They waited approximately five minutes before opening their eyes and looking out the window.

The Great Guardian and his Apprentice were discussing something in hushed whispers. They made several gestures towards the house so they figured it had something to do with them.

After a few minutes, the two started heading inside. It would appear that the lesson was over for the day. The EMC wanted to ask Ning what she saw only to be told by Wayzz that whatever she saw was greatly personal and they should not question her.

* * *

While Fu and Ning had been training, emotions were spiking at the school. Specifically, Adrien and Marinette's. Carrying around members of the EMC circle had heightened their emotional state.

Neither of them currently had an extra kwami. The energy of their previous charges had clung to their bodies. Adrien was suffering from sudden stints of extreme sadness. Marinette was experiencing a flux between anger and disgust.

It was their third class of the day, which happened to be geography. They were learning terms of geography based on water formations. "There are many terms associated with water. Depending on both how the water is used and where it is coming from helps define what term to use.

For example, effluent is a term used to describe water that has been through a sewage treatment plant. A reservoir is a basin for the storage, regulation, and control of water.

These terms describe an artificial place where the water goes. In places where water is naturally flowing and noticing the local environment tells you what geography term to use.

For example, a delta is a land form at the mouth of a river where the main stem splits up into several tributaries. It is formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river.

On the other hand, an estuary is the broad lower course of a river where it enters the ocean and is affected by the tides."

Ms. Bustier was about to go over the differences between a river, stream, and creek when she heard someone crying loudly. Following her students' gazes, she saw that Adrien was having a crying fit.

"Adrien, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I am sniffle sniff crying. I'm sorry sniff for disrupting the lesson. Please go back to sob the lesson."

"Dude you need to chill. There's no need to cry in public."

Nino's words appeared to trigger Marinette who snapped angrily, "What's wrong if Adrien cries in public? Is it because men should never look weak by crying? Your archaic ideas about emotional expression is disgusting."

Everyone started whispering. It was highly unusual for Marinette to be snarky. It was almost unheard to see Adrien being so expressive with his emotions. Realizing everyone was still looking at them, Adrien cried even louder as Marinette started yelling at people.

"Marinette and Adrien, please join me in the hall for a minute." The two teenagers followed their teachers outside. One of the mandatory classes teachers now had to take was how to help students who were having trouble controlling their emotions or behavior at times.

"Marinette, Adrien, I want to assure you neither of you is in trouble. I know both of you are not trying to be disruptive. Your emotional outbursts are taking away from class time."

Both of them apologized and said they didn't know why they had started acting up. The best explanation they could give was that they were suddenly overwhelmed by an intense feeling of sadness or anger.

"If you feel that you can control yourselves you can return to class. If you need some time to compose yourself then stay out here until you are. Whenever you return to class, I ask that you try to not disrupt the lesson."

Ten minutes later Adrien and Marinette returned to class having finally getting a handle on their own emotions again.

* * *

In the underground chamber, Emile was resting comfortably in her cryopod. Gabriel had just left after having his usual conversation with his wife. He told her all about his efforts to revive her. He talked about he was trying to be there more for Adrien, but found it difficult because he was emotional lately.

In Emilie's dream world she incorporated every conversation she had with him. Well, almost every conversation. Every time he talked about his activities as Hawkmoth, Nooroo's magic blocked it from reaching her mind.

At the moment in the dream world, Emilie was in the atrium talking with her husband telling him he was making a mountain out of a molehill. "Gabriel it's a completely normal thing for teenagers to get emotional. All those hormones racing through their bodies and their minds growing and accepting new norms. Adrien is no exception."

"I was never like that as a teenager. All Agreste men are perfect at keeping control over their emotions. He must be taking after you."

Emilie laughed and put her hands on her husband's shoulder. "You show more emotion than you know Gabriel. You look at Adrien and me with so much love. You smile in happiness every time you finish a new design.

You even twitch your nose when you're disgusted by a new dish our chef makes because you hate trying new things. You are expressive darling just not as expressive as our son."

Giving him a quick peck on the cheek she headed out of the atrium. She was humming to herself as she grabbed her coat and left the mansion for a walk. Gabriel didn't like her going out. He was so worried something would happen to her.

She wished that Gabriel wouldn't be so paranoid. It wasn't like the world would end if she took a walk outside. Feeling a bit peckish she decided to head to her son's girlfriend's family bakery.

She arrived in the bakery and took a deep breath enjoying the smell of freshly baked bread. She smiled as she approached the counter. "How are you doing today Sabine?"

(In Emilie's dream world she could picture people she had never met if she had a detailed description. When your husband is a designer, you get a _lot_ of details.)

"Oh, hello Emilie. You're looking beautiful today." Sabine chuckled when she saw her friend blush. "We have fresh croissants if you're interested. I know you love them."

"Yes, I do. I can't imagine why my husband is so against them. They're like heaven on Earth." The two women giggled merrily.

"So, I heard you were working on a new movie. What's was it called again?" Sabine questioned.

"The Happiness of a Family. I just finished my last take a few days ago. Now it is in post-production hands. I'm sure they'll do a good job. I actually came over for another reason."

"Of course. Neither of us can go anywhere without thinking about our kids. If you have questions about Adrien's moods you should talk to Tom. They've been having a lot of conversations lately."

Emilie knew what those conversations must have been about. She had been bugging Gabriel for months now about giving their son the Talk. It seemed that her husband preferred the outer body and not the insides.

Sabine called her husband out and then went to manage the counter. Tom appeared with flour all over his apron. He tried to wipe some off and a bit of the flour landed on Emilie's outfit. "I'm sorry! I'll get that dry cleaned for you."

"Oh, phish-posh. It's nothing Gabriel can't get off in a few minutes. I wanted to talk to you about my son. Both of us have noticed Adrien's been getting moodier as the months passed. Anything you can tell me?"

Tom confirmed her thoughts. Adrien was experiencing normal puberty problems, including wet dreams, and felt embarrassed to talk to his father about it. She assured Tom she would talk to her husband and make sure that father and son had a proper conversation.

"I'll even have Nathalie help me tie Gabriel to a chair if that's what it takes. Thank you, Tom, for helping my son. You're a good man." He replied she was a good mother and she left the bakery heading back to the mansion.

In the real world, Emilie's hands twitched just for a second, showing that she was still alive to the world.

* * *

After school, Lila found herself in the suite's small Ladies Room with her mother. She had her arms crossed in front of her and a scowl on her face.

Olivia was trying to discuss with her daughter about her behavior without it resulting in a screaming match. "Lila, I know the last few months have been hard. Moving to another country, a new school, and your father and I have been busy with work."

Lila rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, you love me and want what's best to me. Hah, I've heard that a thousand times, but you never side with me. How could you punish me for having some harmless fun with Alya?"

Olivia took a few deep breaths and let them out. "I know this is hard for you to understand Lila. What you did may have been harmless in your mind, but it wasn't for Alya. She got in trouble for her actions."

"So? That's not my fault. If she didn't want to get in trouble, then she shouldn't have asked me to hypnotize her." Lila was completely ignoring the fact she was the one to bring up the topic to Alya in the first place.

"Alright, we'll come back to that one. Do you understand why our extended family is upset? We had clients who stopped by our sporting goods for their stores because of what you gave Ms. Bubbles and the lawsuit her parents filed on her behalf."

"I gave her the equipment that was suitable for her skills. She's a mediocre swimmer at best. It would have been a waste to give her a better version of our products."

Olivia looked at her daughter pleadingly. "I know your smart Lila. Being smart doesn't always equal being right about something. It was not your job to judge Ondine's swimming skills. All that was up to you was selling the equipment you promised."

Lila rolled her eyes and said she didn't see the difference. Other people should be grateful she did anything for them.

"Lila, I know this is difficult, but please try to understand this. When you let that Darknet hacker into our systems do you realize how wrong that was? It was a criminal offense. If we had turned you in you would be going to jail for a long time."

"Please, I would have found a way out of that. After all, who would believe that _I _had anything to do with it? The evidence was flimsy at best."

Olivia looked down at the floor hiding her tears. Nothing seemed to be getting through to Lila. She was trying so hard to help her daughter and it upset her that said daughter couldn't see she had issues.

"Alright, we're done for now. Please, go do your homework, Lila." Satisfied that the discussion was over, Lila practically pranced out of the room leaving her distraught mother alone with her thoughts.


	6. Hope

**Greetings everyone. I wanted to let you know something. Last week, I was writing the chapter I wanted to post this week. I accidentally switched the chapters, but it seems to be flowing better than I anticipated so that's a relief. **

**Someone pointed out to me that Marinette's purse opens with a clasp, not a zipper. In my stories I had Marinette alter her purse after Tikki was spotted too many times sticking her head out when the purse was opened. I should have mentioned that sooner. I'm sorry I forgot.  
**

** The episode in this chapter will be Kwami Bustier. Someone else will be getting the Rat Miraculous. Their outfit will be the same as MultiMouse with a few small changes and a new name. Enjoy.**

* * *

Gabriel was up in his lair, along with Nathalie and the Kwamiis. The butterfly kwami normal timid nature had been replaced with palpable rage. As for Duusu, she was very displeased by what had recently transpired.

It had been two days since Gabriel forced Nooroo to partially akumatized Peace Keeper and he hadn't spoken to his master since. Not even when Gabriel demanded him to speak. It appeared to be that Nooroo's rage was stronger than following orders his wielder gave him.

"Enough of this pity party Nooroo. I have indulged you long enough. Stop this childish behavior at once!"

Nooroo spun around in the air and glared at the man replicating Gabriel's own personal scowl. He was not going to budge.

"This is ridiculous Nooroo. I demand that you talk to me now!" The tiny butterfly instead flew up to the top of the lair and perched on a beam repudiating to come down.

Nathalie turned to her kwami and demanded that Duusu forcefully drag Nooroo down here and get him to stop his sulking.

Duusu's tail feathers rose up and down before she responded, "No."

"Are you disobeying me? I command you to do what I want right now!" Nathalie yelled as poked the kwami hard. Duusu snapped her jaws nipping Nathalie.

"If you want my cooperation then I suggest you ask nicely." She could tell the two humans were baffled about why their Kwamiis were acting so out of character and disobeying orders. If they wanted to learn the reason why then they would have to be nice about it.

Nathalie counted to ten and then asked in a kind voice, "Duusu, will you please ask Nooroo if he would come down and speak with Gabriel?"

Duusu smiled and flew to the top of the ceiling and came to perch next to her "brother". "I know you're upset. You have every right to be after what your wielder put you through," she whispered to him.

"He's never going to change is he?" Nooroo replied softly.

"I don't know Nooroo. He's holding so strongly on his grief it is blinding him to both the present and reality. I've encountered many humans over the millennium who require emotional healing. A lot of times people who run from it are convinced if they never let go then what they lost is never truly gone."

Nooroo huffed. "He was getting better. He withdrew an akuma to save a life. He worked together with others while they were being hunted. He listened to me when I told him I wouldn't make guns even deadlier."

Duusu admitted that Gabriel/Hawkmoth had slowly been changing and there had been a tiny chance he would stop. It seemed Startrain had been a wakeup call, but it had gone straight out the window when the man got a chance to akumatized the person who held half of Nooroo's power inside herself.

She leaned in closer and whispered to him, "If we give up now, we'll never get back to our "siblings" and "cousins" my "brother". We can win this if you keep up what you're doing. I'm going to work harder with Nathalie I promise."

Nooroo gave her a small smile and took his "sister's" paw/hand and they levitated down until they were hovering in front of their wielders. Gabriel was about to start scolding them loudly only for Nathalie to give him a slight shake of her head, cautioning him to keep his temper under control.

"Nooroo has something he would like to say. As his wielder, I would pay close attention to what he says." Duusu gestured for the butterfly being to start talking.

With as much rage as he could put in his voice, he told his wielder why he was so angry. "I'm angry that you would go through akumatizing the one other person who shares my powers without considering how that would affect me or my powers.

I was being torn in two because you tried to akumatized her and she was using my powers of inspiration to protect herself. I almost lost the ability to be seen and personally interact with humans because of you.

What do you think happens when I can't be seen anymore? My Miraculous is pretty much useless until I'm corporeal again. Since no one in this time has ever made a Miraculous there would be almost no chance to make me corporal again.

My powers are already half of what they use to be. Your stunt nearly drained me of all my magic. It's going to take days for me to gather enough energy to power a transformation let alone give you the ability to create akumas without a healing potion.

Whenever Peace Keeper cashes in on her favor you better do what she asks or I will purposely drop the transformation so she can beat you within an inch of death!"

The fashion designer actually flinched at how forceful his kwami was being towards him. It had been a long time since anyone challenged him and it was shocking to him it was a four-inch little being.

Duusu cleared her throat and added something. "My Miraculous is already broken and I wasn't properly given up so if you try stretching my powers too far, I don't know what will happen to my previous wielder."

Her words sent shivers down both humans' spines. Hopefully, this would get through to them that they couldn't keep abusing the Kwamiis without consequences.

* * *

It between classes Marinette was switching out her books for her afternoon class periods. Today she was carrying an extra kwami in her purse. Zippy was trying to contain his excitement at being out in the modern world.

"The modern world is amazing and hopeful! I haven't felt this much hope in one place in a long time," he buzzed inside the purse.

Tikki giggled before reminding him that they needed to be quieter. "We can't let other humans know we're here. I've been spotted a few times and I don't think my impression of a cat goes over well with humans."

"I can't imagine anyone believing you were a cat. It sounds like you need to stop popping out so much to lecture your wielder."

Tikki huffed and stated she didn't lecture her wielder. Her "cousin" rolled his eyes and replied, yes she did lecture her wielder. Ever since all the Kwamiis had been retrieved and returned to the Great Guardian, there had been a running bet on how long Tikki could go without lecturing someone.

Sadly, Tikki couldn't even make it three hours without lecturing someone on how they should behave or talking about the bigger picture. Even telling people to take on more than they could handle because a good Ladybug was always involved in something.

Tikki's face started to turn black in rage when Marinette let out a shriek. Concerned, both Kwamiis peered out the tiny unzipped area of the purse. Footsteps could be heard coming toward the bluenette so the two tiny beings quickly dropped to the bottom of the purse.

Alya and Mylene reached Marinette first. "Girl, what's going on? Why did you scream?"

Mylene gasped and pointed at Marinette's locker. Inside the locker, there was a picture of Marinette covered in blood with a note propped up next to it. The note read, "You spilled my blood and now I'm going to make you bleed for it."

All three girl's paled at the note. The other girls had finally come over and seen the note. Astonished by the threat. Alix yelled she was going to get the principal and Ms. Bustier right away.

Alya couldn't believe someone would do this to her best friend. She held her shaking best friend and tried to calm her down. "It's okay girl. I'm sure that the faculty will find the person who did this."

Marinette was crying. "How can they help me,sob, when the police ,sob, couldn't even figure out ,sob, who sent me the first threat?"

Alya and the girls' eyes widened. She had been threatened before?

"Last week, someone dropped off a package at the bakery for me. It didn't have a sender's address. I opened it up and it was filled with animal dung and a crude picture of me sitting on a pile of dung saying, "I'm so sweet on the outside, but on the inside, I'm a dung filled animal in need of slaugthtering."

"Who would be so cruel to do that to you?" Rose asked anxiously. Even Chloe and Sabrina looked weirded out by the news.

Marinette didn't know and started counting towards zero backward from ten. It was a way for her to calm down and not let her anxiety take over. By the time she was finished Alix had returned with Mr. Damocles and Ms. Bustier. Both were shocked to see Alix's claims were real.

"I want the CCTV footage reviewed immediately! Ms. Raincomprix, contact your father and have him talk with any patrol officers who passed by the school today and see if they saw something suspicious.

Ms. Bustier, please inform the other teachers what happened and see if they notice any student acting chary today. Ms. Dupain-Cheng, you will come to my office and wait for your parents to arrive so we can discuss what has happened and how we're going to handle this situation."

Ms. Bustier told her students to go back to the classroom and tell the other students there would be a twenty-minute delay before they started class. She also asked them not to discuss what they saw for now.

Ten minutes later in the office, Marinette was fiddling with her hands waiting for her parents to arrive. She was very startled by what had happened. What was going on at school these days?

There had been those "pranks" which had just been someone being cruel for the fun of it. Then someone tried to make it look like she was distributing indecent photos. Friendships had nearly come undone and a lot of people now had self-esteem issues.

No wonder the school board had cracked down on retraining teachers to recognize and deal with bullying appropriately, while how to manage their class, without using toxic methods

The door opened revealing Marinette's parents and Mr. Damocles. Her parents went over to her asking if she was okay and demanding to know who would do such a cruel thing to her.

"Please everyone take a seat. I would like to discuss what happened here today. Mr. and Ms. Dupain-Cheng, a short time ago your daughter was in the locker room and discovered someone placed a photo of your daughter with what appears to be blood all over it."

"WHAT?" Tom bellowed as Sabine went pale trying to make sense of this. Both parents got even more upset when they were shown a picture of the note that had been with the photo.

"My daughter is not violent! She has never hurt someone especially not in the way this person is implying," Tom steely stated.

"Where is the original note and photo right now?" Sabine asked. She took a peek at her daughter. Marinette was counting backward over and over, trying to regain a sense of control.

"They were given to the police for testing. We have photocopies that the staff will compare to their students to see if they can match the handwriting."

He looked over to Marinette and told her he was going to find out who did this. "I do not like anyone in my school being threatened. I did review the CCTV footage and what I saw was unsettling.

Someone had messed with the cameras outside and inside the locker room so they would all be out of focus. We tried looking through footage from other cameras. It turns out most of these cameras were tampered with so they would not look in the right direction."

The family couldn't believe this. How could this be happening? Ever since the school board had given the school faculty the ultimatum to step up or get fired things like students being threatened weren't supposed to happen.

The fact that someone went as far as tampering with the cameras to hide their identity while leaving a threatening photo was very telling. "Whoever left the threat appears to be willing to carry out their threats. Should I just stay home until this person is caught?" Marinette asked.

"That does seem to be the safest course of action," Sabine pointed out.

"I would like to hold off taking such measures at the moment. I don't want to interrupt Marinette's education experience. To ensure her safety she will be watched by the teachers and escorted by a trusted classmate wherever she goes.

Hopefully, the culprit will be caught quickly. If anything else happens, we will make arrangements for Marinette to take classes via teleconferencing. Is that acceptable to everyone?"

The family talked with each other for a few minutes before agreeing to the precautions. With the promise, they would be updated as soon as they got more information from the police, the entire Dupain-Cheng family, including Marinette who was told to take the rest of the school day off, to the bakery.

As the crossed the street, Tikki shared a look with Zippy. They would be on the lookout for trouble. No one was going to threaten Ladybug and get away with it.

* * *

The next day, Alya escorted Marinette to school and the two girls settled into their seats. Ms. Bustier smiled at her class. "Today, we are going to enjoy a special treat. Ms. Mendeleiev is appearing on the show, _Alternative Truth _today, sharing a scientific discovery she made right here at school.

So we will be watching the show in the library along with her class to show our appreciation of one of the school's best teachers. Now we have a lot to do before we go to the library so let's get started."

In Adrien's bag, Plagg was panicking slightly with Flapper looking at her "cousin" in confusion. "What is going on with you Plagg? I thought you enjoyed any chance you got to be lazy."

"Not when I know sugar cube is going to wring my neck! Oh, why can't I resist my love of cheese?" he bemoaned quietly. "You have to do something Flapper. Can't you make my love of cheese weaker?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Why do you want me to do that? What did you do Plagg?"

Plagg chuckled nervously. "I may have or not been, sneaking into the science lab below to eat the science teacher's cheese from her lunch every day since my wielder started school here?"

Flapper stopped breathing and only started to breathe again when the cat kwami mentioned that Ms. Mendeleiev tried to catch him last time he was there and might have had a hidden camera he didn't see at the time.

"You're going to be lucky if all Tikki does is throttle your neck. Heck, you'll be lucky if the Great Guardian doesn't punish you by forcing you to take a bath every night for a week."

In Marinette's purse, Tikki felt the sudden urge to throttle Plagg's neck while Zippy told her that wasn't a nice thing to hope for.

An hour later both classes were sitting in the library as the Headmaster turned on the TV. The substitute teacher for Ms. Mendeleiev's class kept her students a row apart from Ms. Bustier's class.

"Remember, each of you is to take notes on the show and the guests for a paper describing the validity of each guest's discovery and why it's important to have the scientific community review discovery and not ordinary citizens," the substitute reminded Ms. Mendeleiev's students.

"I'm glad that Ms. Bustier isn't making us write a paper," Alya whispered to Marinette.

"I can't believe we have to watch this. My brother Jalil is appearing on the show today. It's going to be highly embarrassing to me," Alix hissed. She loved her brother, but at times he couldn't separate reality and fantasy.

The show started and Alix buried her head in her arms too embarrassed to even watch and did her best to ignore Kim's shouts of supports for her brother. Jalil was talking nonsense. How could pyramids be space ships if they didn't even have engines?

"Someone, kill me now," she whispered. She wished she had her Miraculous so she could go back in time and lock her brother into his room so he couldn't appear on this stupid show.

The next guest, was Jagged Stone's super stalker Vincent Aza, went on about some nonsense about snow and giant boogers. It was so ridiculous considering everyone knew about the water cycle.

Finally, it was time for their science teacher to lay out her case. "Ever since the appearance of superheroes in Paris, I have been conducting scientific research into understanding how their powers work to prove magic is just science unexplained."

On the viewing screen, she showed a video of her running around the classroom chasing something. "Starting around the start of school this year I witnessed something stealing my cheese slices from my lunch bag. I started investigating trying to find out more about the creature.

Yesterday, I baited the creature by leaving a slice of cheese out on my desk. As you can see I tried to capture it. When I reviewed the footage the creature didn't show up on film, but if you take a closer look you'll notice something interesting."

The video zoomed in on the desk where the cheese was being devoured bit by bit. "I was unable to capture the creature. I got a good look at it and this is what the thing looked like."

She held up a picture that looked like it had been drawn by a five-year-old. It sort of resembled a black cat with green eyes. Adrien and Marinette flinched. They recognized Plagg. A quick sweep over their class assured them their temporary allies hadn't made the connection.

Marinette made an excuse that she needed to use the bathroom and Adrien would escort her since he had to use the bathroom as well. They both headed to the bathroom to talk with their Kwamiis.

As soon as they were safely in the only unisex bathroom stall, (French schools usually have one for transgender students according to my friend who was a French teacher for over thirty years), the Kwamiis emerged.

"Plagg, what were you thinking? Stealing cheese from a science teacher? You had to know she would have investigated it," Adrien sternly told him.

"I can't help it! I love cheese so much. It practically calls out to be eaten by me," the cat kwami cried out. Tikki wasn't falling for it and started yelling curses at him in the kwami language.

Zippy and Flapper watched fascinated by how many curses Tikki knew. The super happy-always has to be right- the epitome of good behavior was finally getting in touch with her dark side.

"Everyone chill! We can't change the past so we need to focus on the present. I do not doubt with Alec running the show Ms. Mendeleiev will be akumatized due to his lack of sensitivity. We need to get to the TV studio to prevent that from happening."

"Too late. Look." Adrien held up his phone. On the phone, a new Akuma had appeared, calling herself Kwamibuster and her look was reminiscent of an outfit worn by the cast in "Ghostbusters."

Her purple hair was now pink and her skin was dead gray. She wore green goggles over her eyes. Her suit was gray with neon green lines going down her chest and legs. She wore a steel belt with a glowing gold buckle.

She wore black armor over her shoulders and the top of her chest that had blinking purple lights on it. Her gloves were black as well as the leggings. Her boots were gray and neon with armor-like appearance. Attach to her back was a canister and she was holding what appeared to be a futuristic vacuum cleaner in her hands.

"I am Kwamibuster and I will prove to the world my discovery is a fact!" She fired her vacuum cleaner and bolt of yellow energy took out the camera. A few seconds later Mr. Damocles could be heard over the PA system.

"Attention students. The newest Akuma is one of our teachers. Considering this, we urge students to evacuate the premises until the Akuma is defeated. Please remember to sign out with your teacher to ensure that no one is left behind."

Marinette started issuing orders. "Zippy, Flapper, you two need to get back to the Great Guardian and warn him about this Akuma and that we might need help. Adrien, go sign us out. I'm calling my mom to let her know I'm with you and your bodyguard staying in a safe spot until the attack is over. Let's go save our science teacher."

* * *

On the roof of the TV studio, Kwamibuster laughed as she prepared to push a heavy safe with Alec inside it off the roof. "Let me out of here! You can't attack the host of a show for losing!"

Kwamibuster laughed and banged her vacuum gun against the door making the whole safe vibrate. The Akuma enjoyed the screams from inside. "True or false? Will anyone care that you die falling off the roof in a safe? Time to find out!"

She kicked the safe and it fell off the roof rushing to towards the ground. Inside, Alec was screaming like a baby and promising to stop being a rude host if he didn't die."

The safe was about five feet from the ground when it was lassoed by a yo-yo string and was safely lowered to the ground. A baton was pressed against the door and used leverage to let out Alec.

The man kissed the ground thanking the universe for saving him. He even hugged the heroes tightly before scampering off as Kwamibuster attacked from above.

"You two are so predictable. Every time some lousy person gets in trouble you come running!" she shouted at the duo. She fired again and the heroes jumped up and start climbing the glass to the top of the building.

"You're just making it easier for me to capture your Kwamiis and show the world my scientific discovery." She fired again and the beam bounced off the windows and sent through a sign across the street.

Thanks to the distraction, the two heroes managed to get to the rooftop without being hit. "Careful with your equipment Kwamibuster. After all, you don't want to break your discovery of the vacuum cleaner!"

"You won't be laughing once I have your Kwamiis. The world will know my name as the woman who made the biggest breakthrough in modern history."

"Chat Noir move!" Ladybug barked as Kwamibuster started to a wide sweep across the rooftop. She jumped back towards the roof entrance intending to hide behind it when the yellow beam caught her.

Ladybug felt as if her earrings were being ripped off as she felt the magic pulling on Tikki. The kwami was fighting her hardest to stay inside her Miraculous, but she couldn't any longer and was swallowed up into the vacuum cleaner.

Luckily, Marinette had been pushed behind the entrance so, for now, she was safe. Chat Noir went after Kwamibuster hoping it would give a chance for Marinette to getaway.

Chat Noir ducked and weaved between the blasts. He raised his baton high so he could slam it down on the canister when the vacuum beam caught him. He screamed as he felt that his finger was going to come off along with Plagg.

In his lair, Hawkmoth was grinning in anticipation. Finally, he would know the identities of the heroes. He would be able to steal their Miraculouses without any trouble.

Too bad his hopes were dashed as several smoke bombs went off covering the entire roof in a thick black cloud. Another set of smoke bombs went off and soon the entire TV studio building was engulfed in a giant black cloud.

"Where are you?! Don't think a little smoke ,cough awk, is going to stop me from getting your, cough awk, Miraculouses, cough." Kwamibuster sank to her knees coughing badly as she tried to clear the smoke from her lungs.

No one saw a young woman repelling down the building with two teenagers. Nor did they see the adult quickly pull on some normal clothing and hurried the two teenagers across the street to catch a cab.

Five blocks south from Master Fu's place, Iria Santos told the cab driver they wanted to be let out here. She paid the man and she had the two teenagers walk a few blocks over before going directly to the Great Guardian's place.

Master Fu was sitting on the floor with a forbidding expression on his face. Hovering above him were Wayzz, Honorra, and the EMC who had fretful expressions on their faces.

He sagged a little as he noticed Plagg and Tikki's absences. "Plagg and Tikki have both been captured then?"

Marinette nodded her head. "Kwamibuster has them. Thanks to Hawkmoth she can keep the Kwamiis from absconding her canister. We have to stop her before she hands both of them over to Hawkmoth."

"How do you recommend we do that? Even if we choose different Miraculouses the Kwamiis would be sucked right out of them. The same goes for temporary heroes."

Indeed that silenced the small group for a good ten minutes. Ning returned to the room in her fully assembled outfit and playing with her charm necklace. "I can go up against her. After all, the Kwami Charms contain a tiny amount of a kwami's power and not an actual kwami."

Master Fu acknowledge that she was right about the Kwami Charms, but she couldn't fully defeat the Akuma unless she had Ladybug and Chat Noir by her side.

"You will need backup. Someone who is quick on their feet and can see and enact new plans should things start to go wrong. Innovation is key to this mission."

Peace Keeper tapped her chin a few times, then squatted next to Marinette and started whispering to her. The bluenette quickly whispered back. At one point Adrien commented before all three of them nodded.

"We have a plan, but we need the Rat Miraculous to pull this off. I also need to use my magic staff and I need your help to cast a big spell."

* * *

Kwamibuster was marching down the halls of the TV studio kicking in doors and exploring each room one by one "Those heroes have to be hiding somewhere. When I find them, they'll lead me to even more Kwamiis to show the world!"

Back in Hawkmoth lair, the man was ecstatic. "The more Kwamiis Kwamibuster finds the more Miraculouses she can give me. Enough to create an army."

Kwamibuster kicked up a new door, this one leading to a dressing room. She only got a glimpse of a person before a bright flash went off. The Akuma let out a shriek as her googles barely protected her eyes.

"You're going to pay for hurting me, heroes! Your Miraculouses are mine!"

"Then it's a good thing I don't have one," a multi accented voice said. Kwamibuster blinked her eyes several times before she could see Peace Keeper standing before her.

"Who the heck are you?" Kwamibuster demanded. Hawkmoth mask appeared over her eyes.

"Kwamibuster, this woman is the apprentice to the one who protects the Miraculouses. Her necklace can help you find all the Kwamiis you desire," he informed her. "Take it from her."

"With pleasure! Give me those charms!" the Akuma shouted as she fired her vacuum cleaner at the young woman.

Peace Keeper dropped into a squat avoiding the beam before tackling Kwamibuster against the wall. She tried to reach the canister, only for the Akuma to roll around so that she couldn't reach it.

Before she could use her vacuum cleaner again Peace Keeper shoved the thing away so it fired into the ceiling. She jumped off the Akuma and started heading to the roof. "I really hope the others are up there waiting for me."

Getting up to the roof she saw two people standing near the billboards. With a twist of her head, she spotted a third person on top of the door entrance. She gave her a thumbs up and then took her position.

The door burst open and Kwamibuster stood there. "You think you can beat a well-trained scientist? Give me those charms now! The world needs to know the truth about these Kwamiis."

"There are somethings in the world that should remain unknown." She grabbed her rope dart and held it in her hands. "Magic is one of them. Release the Kwamiis right now or suffer a humiliating defeat."

Kwamibuster laughed and then fired her vacuum cleaner at her. Peace Keeper stood her ground and didn't move in the slightest.

From behind her two weapons passed over her shoulders coming straight at Kwamibuster. The Akuma stopped firing and quickly covered up her face with the weapon.

She heard two weapons collide with the vacuum and the pulled back. Lowering her weapon she was surprised by the sight that awaited her. Standing next to Peace Keeper were two new heroes, but was shocked her the most, one of them was dressed in red with black spots!

On Peace Keeper's right side was Peridot Turtle and on her left was Ladybeetle! Kwamibuster was gobsmacked by what she was looking at. Even Hawkmoth's mind was short-circuiting as what he was seeing through his victim's mind.

"What's the matter? You don't think Paris would ever be without a Ladybeetle?" the spotted one challenged Kwamibuster. She twirled the yo-yo above her head daring the Akuma to attack.

"Did you not suspect that there are backups for all wielders whether they are full time or temporary? Either way, you're not winning." Peridot Turtle snapped out her meteor hammer the weighted end coming towards the Akuma's right shoulder.

Peace Keeper aimed and flung her rope dart out towards Kwamibuster's legs. Kwamibuster was able to figure out where the dart was coming from despite the flag that hid it and rolled to her left once more aiming for Peace Keeper's necklace.

Hawkmoth's mask flashed over her face and the woman laughed hard. "This new version of Ladybug, no sorry, I mean Lady_beetle _is nothing but an illusion. I have nothing to fear from it." She fired her weapon at the agent.

Peace Keeper dodged and twisted out of the way keeping the Akuma focused on her. She pulled back her weapon and started performing a complex figure eight with the weapon always moving. The beam couldn't get a solid lock on her body so Kwamibuster couldn't try to suck the power from the Kwami Charms.

Meanwhile, Ladybeetle made her move alongside Peridot Turtle. The meteor hammer struck Kwamibuster on the right side of the chest knocking the wind out of her.

At the same, the yo-yo- latched onto the small warning light above the entrance. A third person slid down the line and jumped off kicking the canister hoping to break it.

Kwamibuster managed to keep the canister from sustaining the full impact of the kick. She wobbled on her feet for a full minute before seeing the newest temporary wielder.

The wielder was a teenage girl wearing a gray and black suit with magenta sections. While the neck of the collar was black the base was magenta. Where the long black gloves met with the bodysuit was a thick stripe of magenta. There was even a small streak of magenta mimicking the underside of a rate's belly.

Another thick stripe of magenta separated the black boots from the bodysuit. Down the side of the boots were thin strips of magenta color. Around the heroine's was a pink jump rope. A gray pendant hung from around her neck.

Her mask was gray on top and had magenta swirls on it. The black hair had been twisted up ondongo style reminiscent of Mini Moon's, imitating a rat's long ears perfectly. "Call me Street-Rat!" the young lady announced in a quiet, but strong voice.

"You'll be a lab rat when I'm done with you!" She fired several beams at each heroine. Peace Keeper dove behind a crane while Ladybeetle and Peridot Turtle found cover behind the ventilation.

Street-Rat didn't bother to dodge, she just started skipping rope. Each skip sent her bouncing higher and higher, out of the range of the beam. On another high jump, she came down hard and skipped over the Akuma's head.

Before Kwamibuster could react, the jump rope was around the canister on her back and pulling it tight. "Improvise!" The jump rope glowed bright pink and transformed into a hacksaw. With a few quick slices, a thin crack appeared on the canister freeing the Kwamiis. Tikki and Plagg flew towards their wielders in delight.

Ladybeetle lifted her hand which had the Black Cat Miraculous. The instant Plagg was in the ring a blue wheel appeared underneath the girl's feet. There was the sound of whooshing wind and Cat Noir took Ladybeetle's place.

The same thing occurred to Peridot Turtle who was replaced by Ladybug. She grinned and called out to Street-Rat. "Get her canister off her now!"

Street-Rat shoved the Akuma down and with her enhanced abilities, she pulled the canister off the Akuma's back and tossed in the air.

Peace Keeper's rope dart pieced the canister as she pulled it towards Chat Noir. He quickly used his Cataclysm releasing the akuma. Ladybug wasted no time catching it, purifying the butterfly, and restoring the city to normal.

Peace Keeper stayed hidden as the heroes talked with Ms. Mendeleiev about why Kwamiis had to stay a secret. Whatever she said seemed to satisfy the woman. Chat Noir took the teacher back to the school while Ladybug and Street-Rat headed towards a safe place to detransform.

After waiting two minutes she followed the girls. She found them and climbed partway down the side of the building using her suit's multiple grips to hold her in place.

Street-Rat said the words to return to normal revealing her to be Mireille Coquette. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I wouldn't have believed in myself if I hadn't met another version of me," she whispered.

She patted Mullo on the head and gave back the pendant. After the kwami disappeared, Ladybug whispered to her about the training sessions and that she would collect her in the future.

Nodding, Mireille hurried off before she saw who Ladybug was. As soon as she was gone, Peace Keeper dropped to the ground just as the transformation dropped on Marinette.

The bluenette smiled as she handed over the small box with the Rat Miraculous inside. "You were right. Channeling Peridot Turtle and Ladybeetle went a long way in convincing Mireille she was worthy of a Miraculous."

Peace Keeper grinned a little. "I thought it would. Sometimes the shy ones need a confidence boost to help them realize they can do something. Without Master Fu's help, I wouldn't have been able to pull off that spell let alone been able to fight.

Go back to school. I'll make sure Mullo gets home safe and sound. I'll see you soon."

* * *

Because of how feeble she felt, Peace Keeper once again put on her Iria Santos disguise and took the bus back towards the shop. She got off two stops early and power walked the rest of the way.

She stumbled into the residence and collapsed. Fu caught her and lowered her to the ground. The exhaustion of today's events hit her like a ton of bricks. She barely registered the Kwamiis going into the kitchen and coming back with energy drinks.

Holding his daughter at an angle, Fu tipped the contents of the first drink down. He did the same with the second drink. By the time the third one came up she could sit partway up.

Taking the bottle in her hand she sipped the drink. "How was Hawkmoth able to akumatized anyone? You said with what happened when I was akumatized Nooroo would be weak for several days if not two weeks without a potion to boost his strength."

"I do not know. Perhaps Duusu was ordered to heal him? I don't know if that's possible or not. The important thing to do right now is helping you regain your strength. We'll worry about Hawkmoth another day."

After dinner, Zippy flew off in search of today's Akuma victim. He felt that Ms. Mendeleiev needed some help with staying hopeful after being unnecessarily heckled on TV.

He was not keen to meet her face to face but figured it couldn't do any harm if he just made her feel a bit more hopeful from her bedroom window.

He landed on her windowsill and peered in through the gap in the curtains. Ms. Mendeleiev was sitting in her bed grading papers. Every so often she would grumble and viciously write the grade on the paper, especially if it was a bad grade.

"My "cousins" in the AMC would love this woman." Pressing his hand/paw against the window he buzzed his wings and whispered, "Wish."

Wish was his active power. When used, it gave the person targeted the ability to hope again in reaching their dreams. Peeking through the window, he saw the science teacher pick-up the camcorder and trace it.

"Maybe I can't share my discovery of Kwamiis with the world, but I know I will find another important discovery one day!"

Zippy smiled and then zipped back home to the Great Guardian. It was time for all the Kwamiis to have a discussion in their world about what was going on.

* * *

Later that night, the EMC went to the Kwami world with Honorra and Wayzz. The non-active UMC and the CZMC were waiting for them. Sass greeted them. "I welcome you all back home. What is the urgent matter that you needed to discuss with us?"

Wayzz explained their concern. "Hawkmoth and Mayura are growing in power. As of late, it is concerning how often we have to call on most of you now. Everyone in my circle has a wielder and now half of the CZMC have temporary wielders."

"The more Miraculouses out there, the bigger the chance Hawkmoth will get his hands on one. He and Mayura are already holding Nooroo and Duusu hostage, we can't let anyone else be caught," Honorra added.

Everyone murmured in agreement. Today had been one of the scariest days for the Kwamiis. Two of their own had been captured and they hadn't been able to escape on their own.

They needed to start figuring out other ways to escape or avoid detection should another Akuma come directly for them. They would also need to try to learn better control over their powers should they get separated from their wielders or the Great Guardian.

Everyone one of them wondered what would happen next in this battle of heroes vs. villains.


	7. Emotionless

**The chapter will cover the episode, Felix, with a few changes. When I was writing the outline for this story I completely forgot it. So I have to make this story nine chapters instead of eight. **

** The character Felix will also have a personality that is closer to his original design and he will be on good terms with cousin because I feel Adrien needs at least one decent family member, considering his dad is a supervillain, his mom is in an enchanted sleep, and his aunt was more concerned about jewelry then actually trying to be supportive for Adrien or disciplining Felix for outright theft. **

* * *

It was the start of Ning's second week in Paris and she was still no closer to fulfilling her mission by her superiors. She had no leads on who Hawkmoth really was. Even with the profile and bits, she had been able to gather during their shared mindscape experience, she hadn't narrowed down the potential suspect pool.

Nor could she just ask for Nooroo and the Miraculous back for the favor she was owed. Hawkmoth would never _willingly_ let the kwami and Miraculous go. If she tried to take it back by force she would hurt Nooroo, whose health was already in a delicate state.

Instead, she decided to focus on something else. The sorrow breaker pendulum was important to break the bond between kwami and wielder in the case of abuse. Since her last time in Paris, she had been envisioning a way to prevent someone who was pure evil from using _any_ Miraculous _forever_.

Having a goal to work on made her feel more relaxed. She had decided to make a potion and coat a still undetermined object with it so she could stop a person from ever using a Miraculous.

Ning was at the kitchen table studying one of the potions in the Miraculous Book, seeing how the ingredients mixed to create a successful potion. From her experience, she knew the most effective way to prevent a specific person from something was to use pieces of them in a potion.

"Alright, the key items in the potion have to be something from the targets mind, heart, and body. I don't want to use literal body parts so I'm going to have to figure out what should be used instead.

For the rest of the potion, I'm going to need ingredients that ward against evil, protection from negativity, and everlasting purity. I'll also need ingredients for boosting these strengths and one binding agent. Then I'll add in the personal ingredients so they affect the person I want them to effect."

She started to write a list of items she would need to pick up before she started making the potion. The first step was to find ingredients for warding off evil. The best way to ward off evil was by using flecks of gemstones.

The best gems to use would be smoky quartz, black onyx along with blue kyanite and maybe some purple fluorite. This could all be obtained at a rock and crystal store for people who practiced crystal healing and meditation.

Next on the list were ingredients that would protect against negativity. This time she would need to pick up some herbs. She would need some aloe, a bit of dill, and garlic. She would pick up some sage for the binding ingredient.

For everlasting purity, she would go to the florist for specific flowers. She would need some sunflowers, a few lotuses, along with white lilies and at least one arum.

Finally, the ingredients to boost the potion would include pieces of fruits. The best fruits to use would be apples, peaches, and pears. Maybe also pick up some strawberries to ensure only a good person could use the Miraculous.

"I'm going shopping for potion ingredients. Anyone want to come?" she called out. Almost instantly Stella, Honorra, and Jill appeared. The girls had been wanting to get out of the shop and finding potion ingredients sounded like fun. Flapper would have joined them, but she was having good time bathing and playing in the bathroom sink.

Wayzz came over to her. "Master is taking a mid-morning nap so when he gets up I'll inform him you've gone out. Do you have the money you need for your shopping?"

"Plenty. I just need to put on my disguise and then I'll be on my way. Can you do me a favor Wayzz?" The little turtle nodded, happy to help. "Can you think about what I could use in a potion to represent an individual's mind, body, and heart?"

Wayzz said he be glad to make the young woman happy. Twenty minutes later she was out the door and going in search of the ingredients she would need reminding herself to buy extra for experimenting.

* * *

The first stop was the Minerals do Brazil shop. It was a highly thought out store for spiritualists and collectors. The place had a warm inviting nature. There were shelves stocked with different types of crystal samples with information cards near next to them.

On a small display table, you could look at the geodes and different types of rocks to collect. One wall was lined with little cubbies full of different samples you could buy by the ounce. Jewelry, books, and spiritual items sat near the counter.

Behind the cashier were cases showing different fossils you could buy, pouches for holding your crystals and a few other items. It was a wonderful place to be in.

Honorra's eyes were getting bigger as she peeked at all the sparkly gems available to purchase. "There are so many sparkly things. I just want to reach out touch them all."

"I can feel so much happiness in this place. The Great Guardian should come here and purchase more crystals for his therapy practice here," Stella giggled quietly.

"Don't let yourselves be seen," Jill cautioned. The Kwamiis dropped to the bottom of the bag as a salesperson came over to help Iria aka Ning with finding the right gems.

Iria walked over to the cubbies to start inspecting the gems. She quickly found some smoky quartz and black onyx. She didn't see any kyanite or fluorite. "Excuse me, is this all you have in stock currently? Because I'm not finding any fluorite, which is one of the easiest gems to get."

The salesperson came over and checked the cubbies. "We have larger samples of fluorite if you're interested in that." She pointed to some shelves in the corner with samples, most were larger than the palm of an adult's hand.

"I'll check it out. Also, do you have any kyanite, specifically in blue?" The salesperson said there should also be a few samples in the same area she pointed in.

Once in the corner, Iria/Ning opened the bag and whispered to the Kwamiis they could take a peek and help her find the right gems to use. "Remember, we need something big enough to experiment with but not something that is extremely pricey. This identity has a limited amount of money I can use for this."

Honorra's eyes quickly focused in on the fluorite section. She saw several samples and looked at each one carefully. For picking the right crystal you needed one that wasn't too pointy and which could be cleansed properly.

"Psst. Take a look at this purple square shape fluorite. Do you think you could use that one?"

The young woman picked it up and inspected it carefully. There were no rough edges and she could feel it was freshly charged. The price was a bit too high for her. She spotted a sample the size of her thumb and rectangle-shaped.

"This one is not as pricey and is very smoothed down. This one will do. Have you found the kyanite yet?"

Jill tapped Iria/Ning's wrist and used her tail to point to a shelf a few feet away. I saw something blue and I'm pretty sure I read the name right."

Sure enough, Jill had read the sign correctly. There was one blue kyanite sample. It was about the size of Iria/Ning's pointer finger. Being such a narrow point she would have to be very careful how much she scraped off for the experiments.

After purchasing the gems the next stop would be the open air market. She knew the ingredients would be fresh and she could get both the fruits and herbs in one place.

"Stella, I know bats have a good sense of smell. Can you lead me to the freshest ingredients please?"

"I can, but it would be more helpful if I could hang outside your bag. Do you have something that could make me look like a decoration for your bag or keys?"

"Perhaps. Hopefully, I can finish something before we have to get off the bus." It was risky having a kwami look like a toy or decoration. You could lose them when they had to pretend they couldn't move, which had happened to Tikki.

Another problem was children had grabby hands and would take something without asking. She had heard enough stories from Marinette about how hard it was to keep Manon from taking all the dolls she had in her bedroom.

Of course, the biggest problem would be if someone recognized what Stella really was. With Hawkmoth and Mayura still running free everyone needed to be careful to ensure their Kwamiis weren't seen.

With Kwamibuster fresh in her mind, the best she could do was having Stella hang upside down on the bag side. It was important for her to not move a muscle or lose her grip.

Even upside down, Stella knew where the freshest scents were coming from. She would squeak once to go right and twice to go left. Soon, Iria/Ning was standing in front of a stand selling Gala apples.

Stepping closer to the stand, Stella took a deep breath and sniffed all the apples at once. She squeaked a few times to direct Iria/Ning's hand until she picked four fresh apples.

Next, the small group went over to the peach stands and Stella directed Iria/Ning to buy a few Georgia Belle peaches. The bat kwami then advised the human to purchase five Bartlett pears. On their way over to the herbs, Iria/Ning grabbed a box of European strawberries.

Finding garlic bulbs was not a problem and the smell didn't bother Stella at all. The group quickly snagged two bags of dill and got a great deal on prepared Aloe Vera leaves. Stella wasn't even needed to find the sage.

Finally, it was to go to the florists. A quick Google search told the girls where they had to go to find all the flowers. This time it would be up to Jill to figure out which flowers would last the longest before they completely wilted.

Stepping into the store, she headed over to look at the water plants. "Which lotuses should I buy?" Iria/Ning whispered as she bent down to look at the plants closely.

Jill scanned the flowers and used her tail to point to the pink lotuses. "The color will last for at least a week and it will have more petals to use."

"Got it. They have dwarf sunflowers here. They have golden, red, and bronze. Which do you think we should get."

"Go with the traditional gold. It might not last as long as the other colors, but it holds the most power."

So the young woman put the dwarf sunflower in her cart along with a few lotuses. She also selected two bouquets of white lilies and a beautiful arum before having them rung up.

I know I purchased enough supplies to experiment with. Hopefully, I can make the right potion and test it before my two weeks are up.

* * *

That night it was another training session and introducing the newest Heroine, Street-Rat, to the group. She was a little shy and a bit soft-spoken so the others had to lean in to hear her speak.

"Tonight's training session will consist of team-building exercises. While each one of you has worked with Chat Noir and me, most of you haven't worked with anyone else.

It is important to communicate and learn to work with other heroes without getting into each other's way. Another important factor is trust. Chat Noir and I will work with you in pairs first then we'll move on to three-person exercises."

Chat Noir held out a silk bag explaining all their names had been written on buttons. He would pull the names out at random to decide their partners. He had, of course, removed his and Ladybug's buttons for now since they had to do the teaching.

"Our first pair is, Rena Rouge and Street-Rat." The two girls looked at each other. Street-Rat dropped her head slightly as Rena Rouge studied her.

"Our next pair is Sirius and Carapace." The boys were satisfied certain they could work together.

The next pair was Honey Bee and Viperion. Honey Bee was super excited to be working with Viperion, who in turn, was looking forward to helping Honey Bee restrain her energy at times.

The remaining pairs were Ryuko and Kkachi and King Monkey and Bunnyx. Hopefully, the pairs would work well together despite their differences.

"The first exercise is to build trust with your partner," Ladybug explained as she picked up some blindfolds off the table. "Chat and I will be arranging a small obstacle course for you to go through. One person will be blindfolded and the other has to direct the person around each obstacle safely."

She handed each pair a blindfold and left it up to them to decide who would be the guide and who would wear the blindfolded. Rena Rouge, Sirius, Honey Bee, along with Kkachi and King Monkey put on the blindfolds and hoped their partner would lead them to safety.

Chat Noir and Ladybug stood at the end of the course using the computers in the weapons to clock the teams' times and how many errors they made. They gave the signal and the first team started.

To say it was a catastrophe was putting it insignificantly. They hadn't even made it to the first obstacle when Rena Rouge bull-headiness took over. Instead of listening to Street-Rat's quiet instructions, she moved on her own past the girl and tripped over the first obstacle, which had been a stool, and fell flat on her face.

The next team of Carapace and Sirius made it halfway through the course before Sirius stopped walking because he couldn't understand what his partner was telling him.

Honey Bee and Viperion completed the course, but it took them nearly fifteen minutes due to Viperion having to constantly calm his partner down so she didn't trip over something.

Kkachi and Ryuko made it through the fastest. There had been problems at first because Ryuko was going faster than Kkachi could keep up. Kkachi had voiced her problem with her partner and they went a little slower completing the course.

King Monkey and Bunnyx argued most of the way through the course and eventually finished it together.

Ladybug and Chat Noir compared their notes before turning to the partners to discuss what they needed to work on. "Rena Rouge, you didn't even try to work with your partner in this exercise. Instead of trusting Street-Rat, you decided you knew best and did what _you_ wanted.

This has been an issue for some time, Rena. Every time I need you your too busy rushing ahead to listen to instructions. During the Akuma attacks, it is difficult to work with you because you have a habit of not listening."

Ladybug locked eyes with the fox girl and told her sternly that if she didn't change this behavior it would affect her status of being a Miraculous wielder. The only thing she had to say to Street-Rat was that she needed to speak up a bit more if she wanted her partner to follow her directions.

Her observations of Sirius and Carapace showed her that the boys communicated in different ways. Carapace was using metaphors from movies he had seen, but Sirius hadn't. They needed to find a way to talk clearly to each other.

The only problem she found with Honey Bee and Viperion's teamwork was that their energy levels needed to balance each other out. Honey Bee needed to tone her eagerness down a notch and Viperion had to put some effort into being more energetic.

Ryuko and Kkachi were congratulated for communicating and working together. She did have to remind Ryuko to accept not everyone was at the same physical level as she was. That it was best to assess her partner's abilities before going ahead with something.

Kkachi's only fault was that need to be firmer when she spoke so people would listen to her.

Her observations of King Monkey and Bunnyx were pretty simple. Stop arguing and being competitive and work with each other.

Chat Noir took over for the next partnered exercise. "This time you and your partner will perform a few tasks together at the same time. The only difference your backs will be to each other. Working together each of you must complete your half of the task. When you're done we'll see if you managed to communicate and trust that your partner did their part right."

This time they started with King Monkey and Bunnyx. Their first task was to use building blocks to build a structure. One person had to construct the base while the other had to build a tower to place on the base. The trust factor was believing the other person had done their job correctly.

"Remember, I need a strong base to put my tower on," Bunnyx reminded her partner.

"No worries, I've got this covered."

The next exercise was one person had to draw a picture of something and give hints to the other person so they would draw the same thing. The point was to communicate successfully so both images matched.

The final trust exercise was to carry an object back to back and trust the other one had a good grip on it.

The partners didn't know what they were carrying was a huge watermelon. All they knew is that the object was smooth and heavy. King Monkey was smart enough to lower himself down some so he and Bunnyx could carry it easier.

Once they crossed the finish line, Chat Noir led them back to the first task. They had managed to make a stable base and tower. Their drawings were nearly identical and they had managed to get the melon to the end.

The other pairs went through the exercise and the trust levels were growing. The partners were getting more in sync. Rena Rouge still had a bit to go on accepting she needed to let others lead.

For the next trust exercise, they split into teams of three by using the button bag once more. Team One was Ladybug, Kkachi, and King Monkey. Team Two consisted of Chat Noir, Bunnyx, and Street-Rat. Team Three was Rena Rouge, Sirius, and Viperion. That meant Team four was Carapace, Honey Bee, and Ryuko.

"For this exercise, we'll compete against each other in a mock rescue followed by a battle. The goal of the exercise is to figure out who should be saving the civilian, who should be fighting the Akuma, and lastly, who should be looking for the akumatized object.

Whichever teams completes the exercise with the most points out of one hundred gets first dibs on showers before all us head home. Does that sound fair?" The others nodded all wanting to get the use of the hot water before it was used up.

Having repurposed the animatronics Peace Keeper used the first time they had met, they now had two fake civilians and one Akuma to train with. They had dressed the Akuma to look like a crazed bus driver.

Team One was the first to try the exercise. They let the animatronic Akuma get a few attacks in and then the animatronics civilians cried for help. To the surprise of everyone Ladybug was chosen as the one to save the civilians.

King Monkey had the task of fighting the Akuma. Out of his team, he had the most flexibility and was sprightly enough to avoid attacks. Kkachi hung back and observed the fight. After a few minutes, she spotted the "akumatized object" and was able to use hand signals to tell her teammates where it was.

Team One finished the exercise in six minutes with ninety points. They hadn't gotten a one hundred because it the delay in communications and a few fake attacks hit.

Team Two went next. Street-Rat was the one protecting the civilians, Chat Noir was fighting the Akuma, leaving Bunnyx to look for the object. This time the fake Akuma was a homeless person beefed up.

Their teamwork had a rough start with Chat Noir trying to cover for both heroines because Bunnyx was advancing to fight instead of holding back. Street-Rat was able to come back and help. Their score was eight-five.

Team Three also scored eighty-five fighting against a sewer system worker. Sirius protected the civilians perfectly. Rena Rouge and Viperion should have switched roles. Rena had been fighting the Akuma while Viperion searched for the object. With Rena using her special ability repeatedly, it took a few tries before Viperion could figure out what was real and what was an illusion.

Team Four did the best. Carapace was perfect for protecting civilians. Honey Bee's endless energy kept the Akuma, this time an electrician, from properly protecting his object. Ryuko had locked on it rather quickly and destroyed it.

So Team Four got hot showers and everyone else had cool or cold showers. This was the life of superheroes who had to train at night.

* * *

The next day was not a happy one. It was the anniversary of Adrien's mom going missing. He knew his friends would want to support him and Marinette would comfort him on this day. Yet, he wanted today to just be about his father and him coming together to comfort each other.

So he was out in the back admiring the statue of his mother. It had been a Valentine's Day gift a few years ago. His mom had always loved being reminded of how much her husband loved her.

"I miss you, Mom. I wish I knew where you were. I have so much I want to tell you about. Mostly, I want to share my friends and girlfriend with you. I know you would love them as much as I do."

Adrien felt his father approached him. He turned his head as his father sat next to him. "Adrien, I have something I want to talk about with you."

"I can guess what it is."

Gabriel looked at his son in shock. "You know what I want to talk about?"

Adrien nodded. "I've noticed how much closer you and Nathalie are getting. If you two want my permission to bring your relationship out in the open, you have my blessing."

Gabriel scowled and looked at his son in anger. "Your mother is my only true love. You should be ashamed of yourself for thinking such nonsense on a day like this."

Adrien felt the barbs of his father's anger sink into his skin. He blinked back his tears and softly apologized before getting up and going to his room. He didn't want to be around his father anymore.

In his bedroom, he sat on the bed letting Plagg get some fresh air. The kwami looked at his kitten sadly. "He shouldn't have said what he did to you."

Adrien looked down at his bed and sighed. "Maybe's he's right. I shouldn't have made assumptions or talked about them today."

Plagg gently smacked his wielder on the cheek. "You can't think like that. You made an assumption based on what you witnessed, but you weren't trying to be malicious. If whatever your father had to tell you was so important, he would have just corrected you instead of trying to shame you.

If my "sister" Duusu was here she would have scolded your father and made him be there for you on this difficult day."

Adrien looked up and smiled at his kwami. Plagg gave him a little hug. That's when they heard a vehicle approaching the mansion. That was a surprise because they rarely had guests.

Looking out the windows they spotted two people stepping out the car. One looked exactly like Adrien's mom except for the fact she was paler and her hair was platinum, not sunshine blond.

Standing next to her was a boy who looked a lot like Adrien, but his hair was brushed back formally and he was wearing formal clothing. His green eyes didn't shine as brightly either. Even from up in the bedroom, Plagg could feel a bit of coldness surrounding the boy.

Plagg looked at Adrien for an explanation. "That's my Aunt Amelia Graham de Vanily and her son Felix Graham de Vanily. Aunt Amelia is my mom's twin sister.

I'm surprised they're here. Felix and I use to be close, but ever since his dad died last year, we've drifted apart. I think he's still angry that I wasn't allowed to go to my uncle's funeral."

Adrien made his way downstairs where his father was waiting. Amelia and Felix enter the home. "Adrien, it's so wonderful to see you. Gabriel, a pleasure as always."

Gabriel looked at his sister in law with displeasure. "I'm surprised to see you, Amelia. You didn't tell me that you were coming." He didn't like surprises and was certain this visit was for an alternative purpose.

"I couldn't let my brother in law and nephew be alone on this day. I miss Emile as much as you do. Have there been any new leads?"

"I would have informed you if there was. Shall we get to the point of your visit?"

"What makes you believe I have an alternate reason for coming?" Amelia said pretending to be shocked. Gabriel narrowed his eyes and she could tell he wasn't fooled by her innocent act. "This is a private matter to discuss between us. Felix, why don't you and Adrien go upstairs and have some fun?"

Felix rolled his eyes but followed his cousin dutifully upstairs. The coldness around him seemed to be growing.

"How are you doing Felix?" When Felix didn't respond he tried saying something else. "I'm sorry about your father. I know he meant a lot to you. I wanted to go to the funeral, but Father wouldn't let me."

Again nothing. They entered the bedroom and Adrien asked if there was anything he wanted to do. He mentioned they could play chess if he wanted to. His cousin loved chess because it was a game of logic and it was very quiet.

Felix turned away from his cousin and went over to the window looking at the city below. He could see so many happy families below and it made him hurt inside. His hands twitched, but he didn't do anything else.

Adrien was starting to bite his lip. He looked at Plagg helplessly. The kwami shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea how to engage the other blond. Running out of ideas, he went to his hidden fridge and pulled out some cheese, hoping its smelliness would provoke a reaction.

"A friend of mine loves this cheese and made me hide a stash of it here so they can always have a tasty snack whenever I'm around." He held the plate out. Felix looked at the plate in disgust and waved it away, but still wasn't saying anything.

"Felix talk to me, please. I want to help you. Today doesn't have to be about me and my mom. We can talk about you and your father. Please, just tell me how your feeling."

Felix's mouth turned into an angry frown. His eyes narrowed and his eyebrows came down at a sharp angle. Even his nose flared. "You care about my feelings? You have a funny way of showing it _Agrest_e."

Adrien took a step back startled by his cousin's voice. Felix walked slowly over as he pushed his cousin into a corner. "When your mom went missing I spent weeks comforting you. I listened to you as you talked about how much Uncle Gabriel had changed.

Then when my dad died last year, you didn't even call me to see if I was okay! I waited for weeks waiting to hear from you after I found out you were forbidden to come to the funeral. No emails, video calls, not even a blasted letter from you!"

Adrien sputtered out he had tried to contact Felix, but never got any response. "I even wrote you a letter and sent it to you. I don't know why you didn't get any of my calls. I just thought you wanted to be left alone after I didn't hear from you after two months."

"Well, I didn't! Do you know how much I have bottled up right now? Do you think I like pretending I'm fine so my mom doesn't cry herself to sleep at night?" He reached out and snatched Adrien's scarf off the couch.

"This is a nice scarf. Someone who really cared about you and your feelings must have made it for you. How precious, wish someone would do that for me. Then again, no one cares about my feelings do they?"

Adrien was very afraid at that moment. He had never seen his cousin act like this before. Was Felix's normal reserved, aloof, and slightly sarcastic personality a mask covering up pain as Adrien did with his fake smiles?

That's when Plagg sensed the akuma coming. He didn't know which boy had attracted it, but it was his duty to keep wielder safe. "Get into your bathroom and lock the door. Trust me," the kwami hissed as loudly as he dared.

Inching away, Adrien dashed for his bathroom just as the akuma merged itself with the scarf. He locked the door tight trying to figure out how could help his cousin without transforming.

"Emotionless, I am Hawkmoth. You despise everyone for being able to express their emotions and how their feelings matter more than yours. I will grant you the power to take away people's emotions.

In return, all I ask for is Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes, we do." The purple smoke covered Felix up and when it faded away Emotionless was left behind. His eyes remained the same, but his skin was dead white. His hair was in a long ponytail and it was gray now. His outfit looked Jedi costume from the Star Wars movies. Around his neck, the once blue scarf was now white and extended down his back.

Emotionless looked at his hands and saw they were glowing with gray energy. He pointed his right hand at the bathroom door, felt the energy growing stronger, at the zenith he released the energy and it blew the door into several pieces.

Hearing the noise, Nathalie rushed into the room to check on Adrien only to see an unexpected Akuma in the bedroom. She knew Gabriel was feeling a large amount of rage today, especially with his sister in law demanding he return his ring to her family when publicly it was all he had left of Emile.

He had stormed off declaring he needed some time to cool off. She had thought it would be Amelia akumatized, not Felix. Now she was in a standoff against an Akuma who was eying her strangely.

"Get away this instant. I won't let you harm Adrien!"

Emotionless raised his hands and fired a blast at Nathalie. The woman felt as if she was being electrocuted. The energy seemed to be making its way through her mind and shorting out her emotions.

In less than thirty seconds, Nathalie's skin had turned dead white, her hair was gray and her body hung limply as starred into nothingness. She had been stripped of her emotions. Without them, she had no motivation to do anything except stand there.

"I'm surprised she had any positive emotions to strip. Now for dear cousin Adrien." Emotionless took one step towards the bathroom when he felt Hawkmoth forcing him to turn around.

"Why take your cousin's feelings away when it will hurt worst for him to see his friends emotionless?" Hawkmoth persuaded his Akuma. He didn't want Adrien to get attacked today.

Agreeing with Hawkmoth, the Akuma took Adrien's phone to locate his friends. Emotionless left the mansion, blasting the Gorilla on the way out. It was interesting to see the man just fall to the ground without any emotions.

Upstairs in the bedroom bathroom, Adrien finally got out of his bathtub pool. When he heard the blast charging he had dove into the water hoping any smoking smithereens would go out if they landed in the tub.

"I can't believe I jumped into a bathtub, willingly!" Plagg whined. "Why didn't I just phase through it?"

"Can we worry about that later?" Adrien dried himself off quickly and entered his bedroom. He was horrified by the state he found Nathalie in. He tried to get her to say something or look at him with no avail.

He hurried out of his room and saw his Aunt kneeling next to the Gorilla. "Adrien, what is going on?! Why is your bodyguard like this? Where's your father and more importantly, where is Felix?"

"Felix has been akumatized by Hawkmoth. He zapped Nathalie and looks like he also took out the Gorilla." His eyes widened as he realized what his aunt has said. "My father isn't with you?"

"No, he got mad when I asked him to return my family's property and stormed out saying something about needing to cool down and I haven't seen him since. Now, tell me how to get my son back to normal?"

"We need to put out an alert on the LadyNoir blog. Felix took my phone, so I'm going to go see if I can flag down someone to post it." He raced away ignoring his aunt's frantic calls. He needed to focus on helping his cousin before he caused too much trouble.

* * *

In her bedroom, Marinette was having a video chat with her cousin Bridgette Cheng. Technically, she was her second cousin because Bridgette's mom was Sabine's cousin. Both girls chatted when they could, but both had busy schedules.

"How's the tea shop doing?"

"Very well. Who knew Chinese tea would be so popular in London? It was the best decision my parents made when they moved us here a year ago. What about the bakery? Is it still as popular as ever?"

Marinette nodded. "Ever since my parents started to experiment with making different types of bread we've been getting a lot of new clients. I'm proud of their success."

"You should be as well as you own. It's great to know I'm related to the rising star of rock fashion. Hopefully, one day my accessory line is as successful as your fashion."

Marinette giggled saying one day Bridgette's accessories would outshine her fashion pieces. "I want to get to the real reason I called. Today's the anniversary of my boyfriend's mom disappearing. I want to be with him to help him with this difficult day, but he said I should just let him be."

Bridgette rolled her eyes slightly. "When boys say that, its code for I don't want to look weak in your eyes. I don't understand why boys feel the need to hide their emotions. It isn't healthy."

She let out a dreamy sigh before continuing on, "There's this boy at my school that I have a crush on, his name is Felix, who has been bottling up his feelings over the death of his dad last year and he won't talk about them.

I've done my best to show him that I'm willing to listen and I won't judge him about his feelings. I even gave him my parents' signature tea, because I know how much he likes it and he still wouldn't talk to me. I think my perkiness is working against me."

Marinette was about to reassure her cousin when the Akuma alert went off on her phone. She unlocked it and read the alert. She was stunned by what it was saying. "Um, Bridgette, your crush wouldn't happen to have the last name Graham de Vanily, by any chance?"

Bridgette's eyes widened in disbelief. "That's him! I knew he was going with his mom to Paris today to get back a family heirloom, but I didn't think he would get akumatized while he was there!

Marinette, you have to find Ladybug and tell her something important. It might help free him from the Akuma. Felix is a creature of habit. No matter where he is, he will always have tea at noon. Maybe Ladybug can use that to her advantage."

Marinette nodded and promised to let her know what happened once the situation was resolved. Ending the chat, she looked up at Tikki. "We have our work cut out for us this time. Tikki, Spots On!"

* * *

Chat Noir was chasing down Emotionless, who was leaving a trail of victims behind him. Judging by the direction he was heading in, he suspected he was heading to the Conuffaine boathouse.

Marinette mentioned they were all going to be hanging out there today. I've got to stop him before he gets to them. Chat Noir increased his speed and then felt a familiar presence landing by his side.

"My Lady, it's good to see you. Our newest Akuma is my cousin Felix."

"I know, I saw the alert. What's his power?"

"He strips people of their emotions turning them into, well that," he replied pointing at the victims below. Pale zombies who didn't move. "We need to stop him before he gets to our friends."

Ladybug glanced at the time. It would be noon in fifteen minutes. Hopefully, it wouldn't take that long to purify the Akuma because she wasn't sure Bridgette's information would be helpful.

On Juleka's houseboat, the class was talking about making a video to show that they would always support Adrien, even if he didn't want them around today. Alya was just about to press record on her tablet when there was a scream from Mylene.

They all saw the girl turn dead white and her hair went gray. Her face fell away from her boyfriend's and she knelt on the ground not moving. "You should thank me. Having emotions makes everything worse." Emotionless stated as he hopped onto the deck.

"Mylene! You get away from her!" Ivan yelled as he ran at the Akuma. Emotionless simply slid to the side watched Ivan crash into the wall.

"Love and fear are powerful emotions indeed. Let me free you from that particular burden." Energy surged through Ivan's body and in seconds he was lying on the ground looking exactly like all the other victims.

The kids started running or looking for places to hide. Both Juleka and Rose had to drag Alya downstairs and bolt the door going up to prevent her from filming the Akuma.

On the deck, Emotionless looked around and spotted Kim and Max running away. "Let's see if you even care about Adrien after your stripped of your emotions." He unleashed the energy and added the boys to his list of victims.

A look in the other direction revealed Alix and Nathaniel heading for the water hoping to swim away. "You can't wash away emotions like that," Emotionless spoke in a dull voice.

Instead of connecting with two teens, both Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared, using their weapons to shield the teenagers from the effects. "Get out of here!" Ladybug instructed.

Alix and Nathaniel got out of there as quickly as possible. Once they were out of sight, Chat Noir launched himself up into the air and broke his baton into two pieces. Coming back down towards the ground he flung both of them at the Akuma. Emotionless slid to the right then the left to avoid being hit by the two pieces.

Ladybug flung out her yo-yo and got it wrapped around Emotionless left leg. She pulled hard and Emotionless was suddenly doing a painful split. Grabbing onto the string with his left hand Emotionless sent his energy through the string towards the spotted heroine.

Seeing the attack coming, Ladybug jumped up to the main street and tied the end of her yo-yo around a bench leg, letting go milliseconds before the attack would have connected.

Emotionless picked up the discarded yo-yo and attempted to jerk it free. It held tight. Ladybug got on the bench and jumped down intending to deliver a devastating kick to the chest.

Chat Noir tackled Emotionless to the ground, the shot just missing Ladybug as she managed to land somewhat gracefully. She picked up her yo-yo and ran to help her partner.

Chat Noir was struggling to keep Emotionless pinned down. The Akuma was unnaturally strong. He was thrashing hard and his blank expression didn't give anything away.

"Surrender your ring to me. It is of no use to you," Emotionless calmly stated as he raised his hands.

Chat clawed Emotionless's hands causing the Akuma to withdraw his hands for a split second. Chat reached for the scarf only to be pulled back by Ladybug. Just in time too as Emotionless let loose another barrage of energy.

"We've got to gain control of his hands before we try to take the scarf. Otherwise, he can strip us of our emotions and makes us zombies as well."

"What do you suggest we do My Lady?"

"Circle him and try attacking at different angles. One of us will eventually find a blind spot and be able to snatch the scarf." The two split off from each other and tried to attack Emotionless from the side.

"They're trying to find your weak spot Emotionless. Keep moving and attacking so they can't get close to you," Hawkmoth informed his Akuma.

"Understood Hawkmoth." He glanced around and then started to lope about. He moved away from the houseboat and back to the streets forcing the heroes to follow him.

Then he started spinning around firing the energy bursts in all directions. Ladybug was forced to swing high away while Chat Noir had to flip farther and farther away from his opponent.

"Let me erase your pain. Be free of emotions. Hawkmoth will do great things with your Miraculouses." Emotionless implored as he fired another blast at Chat.

The feline hero pole-vaulted over the attack and swung it down on the ground. It missed the Akuma by a mere five inches. Grunting, Chat Noir called out. "Hawkmoth is not going to do great things with our Miraculouses! Whatever his intentions are, even if they seem pure, lead to H.E. double hockey sticks!"

Hawkmoth's mask appeared over Emotionless's face a very dark purple signaling how angry he was at hearing those words. "Hawkmoth will punish you for saying that."

The Akuma brought both hands together and sent out a concentrated beam of energy. It tracked Chat Noir as he ran trying to get away from the beam. He couldn't let his lady fight this Akuma alone.

Standing on the tallest tree in the area, Ladybug was desperate to end this fight now. "Time for my Lucky Charm!" The yo-yo produced a teacup that landed in her hands.

"Are you serious? I don't think Emotionless is in the mood for tea," Ladybug lamented to herself. She looked around and there was a clock above an outdoor café which was highlighted. At one of the tables sat a fancy teapot which was also highlighted and then finally, Emotionless and the teacup.

"I hope Bridgette is right," she muttered to herself. Ladybug swung over to the outdoor café and landed on the awning. Using her yo-yo, she snagged the teapot and poured the hot liquid into the cup.

She then reached up and pushed the hands on the clock forward till it said noon. The bell rang signaling the time. Jumping down from the awning she approached Emotionless, who had gone still upon hearing the bell.

"Emotionless, would you like to have a cup of noon tea?" Ladybug asked kindly holding the cup out to him.

Ignoring Hawkmoth's ranting, Emotionless took the teacup in both hands and inhaled the scent of the tea. His expression changed from blank too pleased.

Ladybug quickly grabbed the scarf and ripped in two freeing the Akuma. She purified it and restored everything to normal.

"Ugh, what happened? Who are you?" Felix asked as he looked at Ladybug.

Before she could answer, Adrien came running over calling his cousin's name. "Felix! I'm so glad to see your back to yourself. Thanks for helping my cousin Ladybug."

"You're very welcomed citizen. Glad to see you were so concerned about your cousin here. I've got to go now. Bug out!"

* * *

Two days passed and Adrien had done a lot of self-reflection. His cousin had needed someone to talk to and support him. Instead of doing what was right, he did what his father wanted.

He was still new to making his own choices and doing things he wanted instead of what his father assigned him to do. Since he arrived at school he started to learn that sometimes doing the right thing meant you had to break the rules once in a while.

He wasn't going to let his father dictate to him that he should never speak to his cousin or his aunt again. He understood why his father was upset and that his aunt shouldn't have been pushing to get back the rings at this time, but Felix was not part of that.

Before Felix had left, Adrien had slipped a secret email account he set up so he could talk with his cousin without his father and Nathalie going through his sent messages. The slip also contained contact information for Marinette's cousin Bridgette and urged Felix to talk to her. She would make an excellent friend.

Adrien was not the only one doing some self-reflecting instead of paying attention to Ms. Bustier. Chloe was kept getting sidetracked as she thought about what was going with Marinette's situation.

Despite efforts to keep her safe, there had been another threat. Yesterday, someone had left a letter on her desk without anyone seeing who it was. Marinette had taken the letter to the headmaster's office.

No one knew for sure what the letter had said, but whatever it did caused Marinette to spend the last class period in the nurse's office. When Adrien had collected her, even Chloe could see how shaken and abnormal Marinette had looked.

Seeing Dupain-Cheng freaked out like that reminded Chloe how awful she had been. Tormenting Marinette, because deep down she had been jealous of the natural love and affection the girl got from her own parents.

Now that her eyes were opened to the truth about her behavior, she saw how hurtful and dangerous bullying could be. She wanted to help and do something good with her resources, but she couldn't think of what to do.

I have to find some way to help out. I need to show I've made a change Chloe thought to herself.

* * *

That night, as Gabriel was getting ready to sleep his Miraculous glowed brightly. "This person's negativity is beyond anything I've felt before! Nooroo, Darkwings rise!"

_The instant the transformation ended, Hawkmoth found himself in Peace Keeper's mindscape. Confused, he was not prepared for the forceful kick to his spine. _

"_Ah!" he started to fall over, but someone grabbed the back of his collar and swung him over their back and onto the ground as he landed hard on his chest. _

_Before he could react, someone was pulling his arms back and twisting them tightly. He struggled to break free only to released again and smashing his face into the ground. _

_Someone flipped him over and he was being hit again and again. His knees, elbows, abdomen, and chest. One struck him in the face. Even though this was all in his mind he felt an echo of the pain.  
_

_Finally, the assault stopped and he was hauled to his feet. He found himself looking at Peace Keeper, her eyes filled with rage. "If you EVER put Nooroo in danger again, and I mean EVER, you will find your real body in a bloody mess in the coma ward. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!" _

_For the first time in his life, he was afraid of a woman. He nodded his head and she released him. He shakenly stood up and waited for her to speak. He had a strong hunch she was calling in the favor he owed her. _

_"From what I know, part of the person's psyche remains within your mind after you've used your power is that true?"  
_

"_Yes. It helps me locate victims I've akumatized before. I only have access to that when I'm transformed," he admitted slowly. _

_ She nodded and was quiet for a few minutes. "When you're fully connected, when you momentarily take control of someone's body, do you feel or have a reaction because of that?" _

_ Confused by her questioning, he thought about it for a few minutes and then replied. "For a few minutes after I let go, I feel phantom pain as if I'm still using limbs that are not there." _

_ Peace Keeper nodded and asked her final question. "How do you choose your victims? Everyone feels guilt, rage, sadness every day, but you don't akumatized someone every day. So what's the variable you need to akumatized one person?" _

_ Grumbling, he admitted the Miraculous would glow when there was a very strong negative emotion nearby. If the person was in his range, his akuma could find them. _

_"So, in a sense, you can understand what their heart is feeling." She paced for a few seconds before coming to a decision. Concentrating, she formed a turtle shape jar in her hands.  
_

_ "I want you to put everything you have related to Lila Rossi into this jar right now." _

_ Hawkmoth opened his mouth to question why when Nooroo popped up. "You don't have the right to question her why she wants those things. She got Startrain to come back to Earth so you wouldn't be a mass murderer. _

_ Give her what she wants and vow never to target her again with an akuma and you two will be even. Do you understand me?" _

_ Already on thin ice and two beings looking ready to pummel him again, he did as he was told. He held out his hands and summoned force Lila's psyche, the phantom pain of her body when tried to prevent from attacking him, and rage she felt every time she was given an akuma.  
_

_ The three pieces flew into the jar and Peace Keeper slammed the lid shut. "Thank you. I will remember this." She walked back through her door to the mindscape. _

Hawkmoth's conscience returned to his physical body. He quickly undid the transformation and went to bed. He hoped whatever he had done would not come back to bite him.


	8. Happiness

**The Akuma in this chapter replaces the episode Ladybug. Lila and Marinette will still have an interaction with each other just not with Lila attempting to expel Marinette because they're in different classes. **

**I also want to state that while people with an antisocial personality disorder do commit criminal acts and can hurt people, it is actually very rare for one of them to commit a violent physical attack on another individual. **

**Also, as a reminder, in canon, I know Kwamiis and their wielders can't communicate with each other when they're transformed, but it wasn't known at the time when I wrote my first Miraculous story that they couldn't. So in this story, they can. **

* * *

It was Friday during the second week of Ning's visit. At Fox Burrows, Lila was in her room doing homework. Her parents were in the kitchenette having some coffee as they talked about something that was of no interest to her.

As for her homework, it wasn't anything related to her schoolwork. She was preparing the final steps of her plan. She was going to trounce her enemy and gain all the power she needed to make her life perfect. She deserved nothing less.

Her problems had all started when she first came to Collège Françoise DuPont. She had control over her class and during the period both classes had been merged to study for exams, she had gained control over most of Ms. Bustier's idiot students.

Somehow, during that time, something happened that caused her and her family to forget two weeks of their lives. They had all been out at the private woods all nine families owned.

In the old days, it had been used as a hunting ground. It now served as a recreational area for all nine families as well as a camping ground where families were taught how to survive on their own because of a disaster.

When the police had investigated the area they had found what appeared to have been an explosion caused by one of the gas tanks near the clubhouse being overheated. This also explained some of the wounds and burns family members had received.

The doctors had surmised that the combination of the explosion and the trauma caused by witnessing such an event had given the families retrograde amnesia and they might never regain the two weeks they had lost.

Lila had slowly started to suspect there was another reason for it after seeing footage that she had been akumatized on the day of the explosion. She couldn't remember what had caused her akumanzation but strongly suspected it had to do with Marinette. The girl had interfered with her other schemes so it would stand to reason she would be behind her becoming Volpena.

Over the last few months, her body had remembered how to do things she wasn't aware she knew. She knew how to fight and subdue a person. Her skills with a short-bladed weapon were surprising. When she looked at a person her eyes seemed to figure out the best way to take something without being noticed.

When she slept, she had fragmented dreams that she was sure were memories just out of her reach. These fragments eventually came together and showed her how to disable a camera or switch the angle of it without being noticed.

She was going through her recent notes of observation concerning Marinette. She had failed to get her hands on Marinette's purse for weeks now. Since the disgusting goody-goody carried it with her everywhere, the Italian girl knew had to contain something valuable.

She tapped her pen against the notebook. "What could you be hiding in there Marinette? A family heirloom perhaps? Perhaps you have a secret credit card you're not supposed to have? Medicine for a disease? Oh, how delightful it would be if she was HIV+. Then I could ruin her life forever!"

Whatever was in the purse, she needed to get it. It would be the perfect item to bait the ugly bluenette with. Since she didn't appear to be taking the threats she had been sending to heart, it was time to show Marinette you didn't mess with Lila Rossi.

The best way to get that purse would be to break into Marinette's room to steal it, but her face was too well known to get into the bakery and she didn't have any equipment to scale to the top of the residence.

The school would be tricky because if she took it there. Too many witnesses and the school had finally been taking security and welfare of the students seriously. The other problem was she didn't want Marinette to know it was her who took the purse.

"Maybe I should mug her? It wouldn't even be a challenge against that klutz. The timing has to be perfect if I want to get away without being caught."

Setting her notes to the side she picked up a binder and started pulling out pictures of places and several drafted threats written in a dozen of different students' handwriting.

For weeks now, she had been snatching notes from other classmates and tracing them onto a clean sheet of paper. Her imitation of the handwriting was nearly perfect. The best way to succeed in ruining Marinette's life was to make her allies into her enemies. Just as she had done to Lila by taking away her minions.

"The City of Love will show Marinette how loveless she is. Hawkmoth has to come for her than to turn her into a willing Akuma again. If he doesn't, well I'm sure I can think of some way to blame him for whatever happens to her."

Laughing manically, Lila continued to plot the demise of her enemy.

* * *

Unaware of what was going on with Lila, Marinette and Adrien were at Master Fu's for another lesson. Ning was in the back working on a top secret project and didn't want to be disturbed.

This time, they were discussing a unique trait of the Miraculouses. Namely, expanding on their abilities to communicate with their Kwamiis when transformed.

"As you know, it takes an extremely close bond to hear your kwami when they are inhabiting their Miraculouses. The Kwami Charms work on the same principle. What you didn't know is the bond can go even further to locate a fellow wielder if they are in extreme danger."

Marinette blinked her eyes in confusion. "What do you mean by that?" They battled Akumas all the time and sometimes got separated. Akumas were dangerous so why hadn't they been able to do this before?

"Forgive me, I should clarify. This ability only activates if there is a chance the wielder could die during battle or when they are in a life or death situation as a civilian."

He looked at the two teenagers and smiled. "Both of you have a strong bond with your Kwamiis. Your Kwamiis have also bonded with you strongly as well. You are also partners and also lovers as you explore your budding romance."

The two teenagers both blushed. No matter how Master Fu said it, they still felt embarrassed when he talked about their relationship. He had taken on the role of the embarrassing grandparent who didn't know when to stay quiet.

Plagg giggled at the sight of his wielder blushing up a storm. Tikki poked him in the shoulder and cat kwami frowned before whispering, "Killjoy."

"Ahem, continuing. When you share this strong of a bond your life energy, quintessence, starts to sync together to the point you can feel when the other one truly needs you by their side."

Master Fu used Tikki and Plagg as an example. Tikki was the first kwami and loved her ability to create things out of thin air. Plagg had been born soon after and when he appeared next to Tikki they both knew they needed to be close to each other.

By being able to sense each other, no matter the distance, Plagg could destroy a dangerous creation to protect Tikki. In turn, she would always find him and create something from the ashes of destruction.

"Creation cannot exist without destruction. Destruction cannot stop unless there is creation. When something threatens that balance, the synced energies pull towards each other."

"So, we have built-in GPS transmitter. When it goes off that means drop everything and get there as soon as possible, right?" Adrien asked.

Master Fu smiled."Correct. When I was studying to become a Guardian my master would tell me of stories about the tragedies that occurred when a bonded pair ignored the distress signal coming from their partner.

Many of those stories ended with the death of one wielder. If the wielder lived, they were always broken in a way that made them have to give up their Miraculous. There was one story in particular that he told me that haunted my thoughts for days."

He went over to the bookcase and returned with an old journal. The leather was cracking and the embossed cover was fading. He blew off a thin layer of dust before carefully opening it. He breathed in the scent of paper and ink, remembering his mentor fondly.

"As you know, I was only able to escape with a few things before the Order of the Guardians Temple fell. One item I managed to grab was the journal of my mentor Master Zhu. He had given it to me a few days before to help inspire me in deciding what type of journal I wanted to keep."

He flipped through pages until he came to the right one. Master Zhu had been a decent ink brush artist so he had drawn an illustration of the story. Turning the journal around as he showed it to the teenagers while he told them the tale.

"Seventy years before Master Zhu became my mentor his own master, Master Azul, was a wielder of a Miraculous. He wore the Tiger Miraculous and his partner wore the Dragon Miraculous."

Passion and Focus, opposites, but you can't achieve either without the other Marinette thought to herself.

"One day, the two partners were sent to fetch a new recruit for the temple. This recruit lived far away and it would be a difficult journey to bring the boy back before the mountain pass froze for the season.

Master Azul and his partner were confident they could make it back in time. The whole way to the recruit's village Azul's partner set the pace and decided what route they would take to get there."

Tapping the illustration the two heroes followed the story. The partners had made it to the village in good time and retrieved the boy. They had been making the return journey when a rockslide cut off the best way back to the temple.

The partners took a different route which made the journey longer until they only had two days until the pass froze once more. The partners decided to transform and take turns carrying the recruit.

They made it to the pass, but it had started to freeze early. The ice was expanding at an alarming rate. There was only enough time for one of them and the boy to get through.

Azul's partner was given the child to take to the temple. He would remain behind and return to the boy's village to live until the pass opened again. On his way down the mountain, Azul had felt the distress call coming from his partner.

"Master Azul thought his partner had called out to remind him not to stress about being alone for the season. When he returned home in the spring, he was shocked to learn both his partner and the child had frozen to death.

They had made it through the pass before a hailstorm had struck. They took shelter in an ice cave. The Dragon Miraculous alone hadn't been enough to keep them alive. Instead, they became permanent ice statues in the cave."

Master Fu let that sink in. How horrible it would be to know your partner was dead but preserved perfectly that you could almost swear they were still alive.

Neither one of the teens wanted that to happen to them. They promised each other that they would always come to help their partner if they felt the distress call in their minds.

* * *

Monday rolled around and school was back in session. Today, Adrien was carrying around Stella, the last kwami who needed to be out in the modern world. It was decided that he would do it because his bag had more room to accommodate her wings.

Stella was ecstatic to finally see what a modern school was like. She knew these places were hotbeds of different emotions. She hoped that she could find people who were happy at school.

Ms. Bustier was giving a history lecture about how France was once made up of smaller countries that were eventually absorbed into France. Today she was discussing Brittany.

"Brittany was united together under King Nomino in 845 who ruled until 851. He was considered to be the Father of the Kingdom, which simply means he was the one found the country.

His son, Erispoe secured Brittany's independence by winning the Battle of Jengland against Charles the Bald. The Bretons won another war in 867, and the kingdom reached then its maximum extent: it received parts of Normandy, Maine and Anjou, and the Channel Islands.

Brittany was heavily attacked by the Vikings at the beginning of the 10th century. The kingdom lost its eastern territories, including Normandy and Anjou, and the county of Nantes was given to Fulk I of Anjou in 909.

However, Nantes was seized by the Vikings in 914 and was eventually liberated by Alan II of Brittany in 937 with the support of his god-brother King Æthelstan of England. Alan II expelled the Vikings from Brittany and recreated a strong Breton state. He paid homage to Louis IV of France, who was Æthelstan's nephew and had returned from England in the same year as Alan II, and thus Brittany ceased to be a kingdom and became a duchy."

The lecture was interrupted when the phone connected to the office rang. Ms. Bustier strolled over and picked it up. "Hello? Alright, I'll send her over. Marinette, Mr. Damocles wishes to speak with you in his office."

Alya started to get up with Marinette to escort her when Ms. Bustier told her to sit back down. "Mr. Damocles wants to talk to Marinette privately. I'm sure Marinette can get across the courtyard by herself."

So Marinette left the classroom and headed for the headmaster's office. As she was coming down the stairs she felt her purse snag on something. As she removed it from the railing she felt someone watching her.

Her head turned to look behind her and to the sides, but she didn't see anyone. While she was looking around someone snipped the strap for her purse and it fell to the ground with a hard thud.

She resisted calling out for Tikki, knowing the school had upgraded with new cameras that had enhanced audio. To protect her identity, she just hurried down the stairs to pick up her purse.

As she knelt to pick up the purse, someone rushed up from behind her and pressed a certain nerve cluster. Marinette went down in seconds not knowing what was going on.

Lila smirked as she bent down and collected the purse. She opened it up and hissed in anger. "Nothing? There's nothing in here? Then why is she so protective of it?" She wanted to tear the purse in half, but she couldn't just yet.

First, she needed to set her plans into motion. She pulled Marinette closer to the staircase to make it look like she fell. Before she headed to the locker room, she gave the bluenette a good kick to the side.

With the clock ticking against her, the liar quickly ducked into the locker room and started opening different lockers, planting threats and pictures of locations around Paris with Marinette photoshopped into them. "After I place my anonymous note under Mr. Damocles's door, he and the teachers will be far too busy interviewing suspects to speak to Marinette. Once she's sent to the nurse, phase two can begin."

Placing the last bit of evidence in Chloe's locker and locked it tight. Leaving the locker room she hurriedly pushed the note under the door and made it back to the library where her class was without anyone realizing she had been gone for the last seven minutes.

* * *

In the headmaster's office, Mr. Damocles was reading the new school policies the School Board approved of. Every member of the teaching staff had passed the new evaluation after the training course was completed. The administration was working hard to implement any changes the School Board had asked for. For example, there was a new policy when it came to bullies.

It was the three-strike system. A first offense would be given a day of detention and a warning. A second offense would be a week of suspension and a phone call to the parents. A third and final offense was expulsion from the school.

"I wonder if we can give the person threatening Ms. Dupain-Cheng all three strikes at the same time?" he was about to turn the page when he noticed something sticking partially under his door.

He opened the door and reached down and that's when he saw Marinette at the bottom of the stairs struggling to pick herself up. "My word! Ms. Dupain-Cheng are you alright? What happened?"

"I was coming oh," Marinette stumbled over her words as she started wobbling on her feet. The man hurried down the stairs to steady the teenager. Marinette wobbled a few more times but remained standing.

"Thanks. What did you whoa," Marinette said as she pressed her fingertips to her head trying to eliminate the headache coming on. "What did you want to talk to me about in the office?"

The headmaster blinked his owlish eyes in confusion. "I never asked for you to come to my office. Who told you that?"

"Ms. Bustier got a call from the office telling her to send me to your office." The wobbling had stopped and she felt sturdier on her feet. That's when she realized she didn't have her purse.

"Where's my purse? I know I had it when I came to the office!" Marinette fretted as she scanned the courtyard, but didn't see it anywhere. "I have to find it."

Mr. Damocles told her she could look for it later. He wanted her to go check in with the nurse while he investigated what was going on. Once he was sure she was able to get to the nurse's office by herself he opened the note and read it.

He couldn't believe what he was reading. Surely, this had to be a mistake. Going back to his office he started making phone calls. First, to Marinette's parents. Then he called for both Ms. Mendeleiev and Ms. Bustier to meet him in the girls' locker room with their female students in ten minutes. The last call was for the police to be on standby for assistance.

Naturally, Marinette's parents were the first to arrive. Mr. Damocles met them at the entrance to the school. They were understandably very upset.

"What happened to Marinette? Why was no one with her when she left the classroom?!" Sabine demanded to know.

"How badly hurt is she? Please, you must have _some_ idea whose been threatening my little girl," Tom pleaded.

The headmaster explained what he knew about Marinette's condition and what he was planning to do next. Sabine left to check on Marinette in the nurse's office. Tom followed the headmaster as he was joined by both teachers and their female students into the girls' locker room.

"Listen up students. One of your classmates has been repeatedly threatened by a fellow student for about two weeks now. Today, I found out someone tricked not only the student, but the teacher as well to come to my office alone.

While I don't have all the answers yet, this student ended up needing to go to the nurse's office for a possible head injury. Before I found her, someone slipped this under my door." He held out the note for everyone to see.

"According to the anonymous note, the identity of the person or persons who has been doing this has stored evidence in their school locker. Because this note is anonymous I am asking you to open your lockers and show me what's inside.

If evidence is found you will be asked to wait by my office. I will listen to each of you individually to determine if you're telling the truth when you say that the evidence was planted. Understood?"

The girls all nodded and each of them stood by their lockers. One by one they opened their lockers. Most of Ms. Mendeleiev's students didn't have anything inside them. The trouble started when they got to Kagami's locker.

Kagami opened her locker to show them she had nothing incriminating to hide and when she stepped aside to show the headmaster that his eyes narrowed. "Ms. Tsurugi, why do you have this picture of Ms. Dupain-Cheng in your locker?"

Kagami blinked in confusion. She didn't have a picture of Marinette in her locker. She peered into her locker and frown appeared on her face. Stuck to the back of her locker was a picture of Marinette watching Fencing practice. She was circled with a red marker with a slash mark created by a weapon of some kind.

She didn't say anything. She just gathered her books and went to wait by the headmaster's office. The other students started to whisper among each other. Kagami was a good friend of Marinette. Would she really try to harm her?

The next one up was Lila, but the only thing in her locker was her books for classes after lunch. The headmaster and Ms. Mendeleiev inspected every inch of the locker but found nothing so they moved to the next one belonging to Ondine.

This time they found a picture of Marinette by the Seine and there was a shadow of someone approaching her from behind to push her in. Ondine babbled in confusion as she left.

Every time a friend of Marinette's opened their locker they either had an incriminating photo or rough drafts of threats in their lockers. The most damming piece of evidence was Marinette's purse being found in Chloe's locker.

Tom glared at Chloe in anger. Marinette had mentioned how Chloe was slowly redeeming herself, but it looked like it was just an act.

"I didn't take Marinette's purse! She had it on her when she left the classroom and I didn't leave at all. Ms. Bustier can testify to that!" Chloe insisted. She looked at her teacher pleadingly.

Ms. Bustier was already nodding. "She's telling the truth. Chloe never left class. I don't know how the purse ended up in her locker, but she couldn't have taken it."

"That doesn't mean she didn't pay someone to take it," Tom countered. Still looking at the mayor's brat he added, "You have bullied Marinette every school year. I find it hard to believe you're not behind this."

Mr. Damocles cleared his throat. "Calm down Mr. Dupain. We'll get to the bottom of this. The rest of you can return to your classes."

Ms. Bustier returned to her classroom without any students as Ms. Mendeleiev left with her remaining students. Neither of them noticed Lila enter the classroom and then slipping back out before the door closed.

She headed to the nurse's office, ducking about to keep out of the line of sight at all the girls sitting or standing by the headmaster's office. When she peered through the door she smiled.

Marinette's back was to her as she dozed and she spied Sabine and the nurse in the adjoining room as Sabine filled out some paperwork to sign off that she was taking her daughter home.

Tiptoeing, she pulled the adjacent door shut and shoved the chair by the cot under the doorknob to keep it locked.

Of course, this motion awakened Marinette. Before the bluenette could scream Lila pinched the nerve cluster again rendering her unconscious once more. Hefting the girl on her shoulder Lila took her to the basement to begin her fun.

* * *

Marinette slowly came to and found herself handcuffed behind her back with her legs were tied tightly together by plastic restraints. There was a gag in her mouth. She struggled on the floor uselessly.

A small light lit up forming a spotlight on her. "Don't bother. I made sure to make your restraints extra tight. You're not going to be wiggling away from me this time _Marinette_." Lila said with an evil smile on her face. The look on Marinette's face was priceless. The girl laughed out loud. "This is the look you should have been wearing for months now. It's good you finally know your place."

Marinette struggled even more as Lila removed a dagger from her pocket. How she had managed to smuggle that in without anyone noticing was beyond her. All the bluenette knew was she was in trouble.

"I should have been ruling this school since the time I enrolled. I always wondered why fate decided to keep the classes the same this year, but now I know why. It was so I would have my chance to take you out of the game."

Lila monologue about everything that leads up to this encounter. How she knew Marinette had to be the reason behind her akumanzation. That she should have known her place wasn't by Adrien's side because he deserved the best in the world and not trash.

That because of her goody-goody act not only had she lost her pawns, but she was in the class with a monster of a teacher and a bunch of nobodies who thought they had the right to police her.

She blamed Marinette for her parents punishing her for having a little fun with Alya because she didn't know when to leave something alone. How infuriating it was to have to do community service for pathetic weaklings.

Lila ranted a bit about her quack of a therapist she had been forced to see. How nagging he was about her doing her therapy assignments or making amends to the family members she hurt.

Lila confirmed that she had been behind the attempt to get her expelled and the sabotaging Markov with help from a dark net hacker. There was no remorse for putting hundreds of people's lives at risk by letting that virus spread all over the arrondissement.

She finished her monologue with recent events in her life and that nothing would go back to the way it should unless the person who ruined it wasn't in her way anymore. She put the dagger back in her pocket and looked down at her victim.

Hearing all this, made Marinette even more afraid. How evil was Lila? Could all this be the result of a mental disorder or had she chosen to become this diabolical?

Once more, Marinette tried to free herself only to be kicked hard in the chest. She screamed into her gag as the immense pain traveled through her body. Before she could brace herself the next kick slammed into her chest once more.

She could hear the sound of bones cracking and her heart was going crazy. Then she endured two kicks to the abdomen. She could not remember ever being in this much pain before and she took Akuma attacks on a fairly regular basis.

Lila was just getting started. She grabbed Marinette by one of her pigtails and dragged her across the basement floor before she tossed her rival next to a pipe. Poor Marinette wasn't ready for her back to make contact with the pipe.

"Oh did that hurt? Well, you only have yourself to blame. It was your actions that caused all this," Lila reasoned as she pulled out more plastic restraints She pulled back her right fist and slammed it into Marinette's face giving her a black eye.

While the bluenette was crying from the pain, the sausage hair girl wrapped a few restraints around her victims pinning her to the pipe. "I need you to hold still Marinette. It won't be my fault if your face looks uneven."

Using her long nails, Lila clawed at Marinette's face leaving several thin red scratches all over the cheeks and forehead. Those sharp nails dug into her forearms and legs.

Marinette screamed for help, but the words couldn't get past her gag. Lila rolled her eyes. "I told you, nobody's going to hear you scream. The staff is preoccupied with interviewing your so-called "friends" who have evidence against them as the person or persons threatening you. No one saw me sneak back into the hall or lock your mother and the nurse inside the office. With everyone else in the class, it will take forever for them to be heard.

That monster of a teacher has probably noticed I'm missing, but all I have to do is go back to class saying I forgot something at the library and it took a little while to find it. I'll get detention, but that leaves me more time to play with you after everyone leaves."

Marinette was scared, angry, and hurt. She couldn't let this assault continue. She saw Lila twirling the dagger in her hand. She had a strong hunch that Lila planned to use it before returning to class.

If I don't stop this now I might now survive Marinette thought. She needed to block out Lila's voice, who was now talking about ways she would use Marinette's eventual akumanzation against her.

She appeared to be ignorant of the fact that Hawkmoth had stated he wouldn't akumatized the young designer a second time. With Lila muttering how difficult can it be to get Hawkmoth attention so he could akumatized her rival, then she truly didn't know.

Pouring every bit of energy she had, Marinette sent out a mental distress call. _ "Adrien! Tikki! Plagg! Help me! Lila's holding me in the basement and is trying to kill me! Help me please!" _

* * *

Back in the classroom, Adrien was still taking notes on the history lecture. In his bag, Plagg and Tikki, who had left the purse earlier in the day so she could talk to Stella, were chatting amongst themselves, when Stella covered her bat ears.

"Did you hear that?" Stella asked. Her "cousins" looked at her confused. "I heard someone crying out in terrible pain."

Tikki was about to suggest Stella was hearing something from outside the school when she heard something inside her head. A few seconds later so did Plagg.

At his desk, Adrien froze. He could hear someone's voice screaming in his head. _"Adrien help me! Lila's going to kill me in the basement!" _

Adrien stood up so abruptly he almost fell over his desk. He dashed out of the classroom ignoring his teacher as he raced down the stairs. In the courtyard, a majority of girls were still waiting outside the headmaster's office.

It was nearing fifteen minutes since they were told to sit there until they were called in. Right now, Chloe was in there with Mr. Damocles and Mr. Dupain trying to prove she was innocent.

Alya was showing Kagami some fan art she was going to post to her blog when they all heard a loud commotion. Adrien was running full out towards the door to the basement.

Upon reaching it, he started to pull with all his might, but it was stuck in place. "Kagami! Alya! Come help me! I need everyone to help me get this door open!" Confused by what was going on Alya and Kagami hurried over trying to determine what was up with Adrien who was still trying to open the door.

"Adrien, what are you doing? Why are you so frantic to get into the school's basement?" Kagami asked rather calmly.

"Look, I don't have time to explain, but I know for a fact Marinette's down there with Lila attacking her and she needs me!"

Alya opened her mouth to tell him he was crazy, but seeing the look in his eyes he fully believed in what he was saying. She also grabbed the door handle and pulled it. Kagami took out her foil and tried to use it as leverage to get the door unstuck.

By this time, a crowd had amassed. Ms. Bustier was hurrying down the steps telling Adrien to stop whatever he was doing. The rest of her class was still up on the second floor watching as the science teacher came out of her classroom to gain control of the situation.

The girls from Ms. Mendeleiev's class were alerting the headmaster to what was going on. Meanwhile, the girls from Ms. Bustier's class, except for Chloe, had rushed over to help Adrien.

Right before an adult could get to Adrien, the door finally opened and he raced down the stairs, followed by Kagami with her foil, and lastly Alya with her phone who turned on the lights to see where they were going.

The adults followed the three and when they got to the northwest corner they were shocked by what they saw.

Adrien was doing his best to restrain Lila, who was holding a dagger in her dominant hand. Kagami was using her foil in an attempt to disarm Lila, who had a very dark and cold expression on her face as she looked past the fencer.

Marinette was still restrained against the pipe. Her face was scratched up and her black eye was starting to swell. She was breathing hard and winced as Alya tried to undo the restraint around her bruised up abdomen.

Sharp indentations were seen on Marinette's arms and legs. New injuries included what appeared to be a broken ankle from trying to defend herself while her legs had been tied together. A section of her hair was missing.

The worst injuries were the two stab wounds in her shoulders missing her neck by less than an inch.

Tom reacted first. He raced over and used his girth to fully restrain Lila so Kagami could finally disarm her. The dagger clattered against the ground as Adrien took off his jacket and quickly picked up the dagger to make sure no fingerprints would be smudged.

The teachers hurried over and helped cut the restraints off of Marinette and looked around for a key to remove the handcuffs. Behind Mr. Damocles, students were coming into the basement and gasped in horror.

"MS. ROSSI, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Mr. Damocles thundered at the girl.

Lila didn't respond at all. Her feral eyes were locked on Marinette who was finally free of her handcuffs and crying on the floor.

Mr. Damocles started to demand another answer when there was a larger gasp from behind him and someone screaming in horror. Turning around he saw Mrs. Rossi and the police.

"LILA! What have you done?" Ms. Rossi cried in anguish. She had received a call from the school earlier that day about scheduling a parent-teacher conference to discuss Lila's attitude in class.

She decided to come in person to schedule it. When she arrived she witnessed the commotion around the basement and had a sick feeling in her stomach it involved her daughter.

She was not expecting what she saw in front of her. Her daughter restrained and looking at the student on the ground, who had been brutalized by Lila's hand. Dr. Rocky had warned her that Lila's refusal to accept she needed treatment might escalate to something bad, but even he didn't predict it would be something like this.

Her emotions were all over the place. Sadness, anger, and fear. She was disgusted at herself for failing to prevent this. Her hopes for her daughter had vanished and she couldn't feel a shred of happiness.

* * *

An akuma flew into the basement and merged with Ms. Rossi's necklace. Hawkmoth's mask appeared over her eyes. "Countess Discordia, I am Hawkmoth. Your daughter has caused you so much pain and heartache with her actions.

I grant you the power to make her and everyone else feel your pain. In exchange, all I ask for is Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculouses."

"I agree, Hawkmoth." Everyone jumped back as the akumanzation started to take over including Tom, who let Lila go. The girl took off just as the black and purple smoke vanished.

Countess Discordia was one of the scariest Akumas ever. Her short brown hair was now long, frizzy, and crimson. Her brown eyes now were dark red and cracks had appeared all over her face. Her lips were black and you could see her sharp jaws inside her mouth.

She wore a Victorian-style red dress, with a black collar and hem. The skirt stopped just short of her ankles and she was wearing tight-fitting black button-up shoes.

Her jewelry had changed as well. Her studs had turned into black diamond earrings. Her necklace was now a jeweled collar. Her fingernails were long, red, and super sharp.

"I am Countess Discordia and you will all suffer the same pain as I am!" She let out a horrible shriek that vibrated against the walls. People were clutching their ears hoping their eardrums wouldn't pop. The jewel glowed brightly as her shrieking got louder and louder. Crimson colored sound waves appeared in the air washing over almost everyone.

Before the sound waves could hit Marinette and Adrien, who had come over to check on his girlfriend a tiny voice squeaked, "Funny Faces!" A shield formed from dozens of funny faces wrapped around the duo.

A few moments later everyone else's eyes were a solid red and they were either crying or shrieking in pain. Countess Discordia was pleased by the results. "Now if you don't mind Hawkmoth, I'm going to go find Lila and let her suffer as much as I have." She strolled up the stairs and headed out on to the street as she screeched about her pain. Civilians ran and if they got in her path she used her extra sharp nails to claw their faces.

In the basement, Adrien was unsure of what to do as he clutched Marinette. His girlfriend was looking at him with a pleading expression indicating they needed to go after the Akuma.

Her boyfriend shook his head and gestured at her injuries. It was very unwise to fight against Akuma while injured.

Despite the enormous pain she was in, she tilted her head up so he could reach her earrings easily. Her eyes held tears as she mouthed that she was giving up her Miraculous. It needed to be done if they were going to find a temporary Ladybug.

Ignoring the pain of having to leave his girlfriend behind, he removed the earrings and gently laid Marinette out on the floor. He got up and ran out of the basement knowing he had to find someone to wear the earrings temporarily and would give them back.

Countess Discordia had left a trail of victims behind her as she finally found Lila. Her daughter was at the Eiffel Tower and she had cornered the girl on the viewing platform.

"You've been a very naughty girl Lila. Spreading strife and being dishonest. You've broken my poor heart," she cooed. "You should know what that feels like."

"Mom, you have superpowers, think of what you could do with them! Instead of wasting them on punishing me, you could use them to get anything you ever wanted!" Lila pointed out to her.

Dollar signs practically appeared in the teenager's eyes. "You can walk into any bank and take as much cash as you wanted. Want a priceless work of art? Just scream security into submission!"

Countess Discordia let out a growl and slashed her nails multiple times over her daughter's face and arms. "HOW DARE YOU! It isn't enough to break my heart, ruin our family's business, and face legal actions for attacking another student! You still want to commit crimes?!"

"We _are_ criminals Mom! Don't you see it? Something happened to us! My akumanzation had something to do with Marinette! That's why I had to get her to talk! We can get our real lives back!" Lila screeched.

How could her mom not see the truth? They could go back to their real lives and have everything they ever wanted. That her behavior was perfectly acceptable in their old world?

"ENOUGH!" Countess Discordia screamed. Her jewel glowed so brightly it nearly blinded both the Akuma and Lila, who covered her ears as the screeching grew higher in pitch. Her screeching sound waves spread all across the city.

Every single arrondissement heard the screeching as their eyes turned red. They felt their hearts breaking and tears streaming down their faces. Some were switching between screaming and crying. Even the animals in the zoo were screaming for help in their own way.

Back at the Eiffel Tower, Countess Discordia was out of breath. The last scream had nearly taken out her vocal cords. The Akuma looked down at her daughter hoping she had finally gotten through to her.

What she saw instead broke her heart all over again.

Lila was coughing as she removed her hands from her ears. The strange thing was her eyes were still the same color and not red. How could she not be suffering from the pain her mother inflicted on her?

That's when Chat Noir and an adult-sized Ladybug appeared on the scene. "Thanks for your bird call. We might never have found you if you didn't," Chat Noir laughed.

"Not the time Noir,"Ladybug chatized her partner.

Turning to face the Akuma, Ladybug looked at her with sadness. "Countess Discordia, I empathize with you. Your heart is broken and you probably feel as if you failed as a parent. That's understandable and I get why you want to share that pain. Trusting Hawkmoth to help you will not heal your broken heart. Please, give us your possessed item so you can start the healing process," the adult Ladybug begged her.

Hawkmoth's mask appeared over his Akuma's eyes, but she just let out sobs ignoring him. "What's the point? You get their Miraculouses, but my pain will never end because my child isn't suffering at all! My attack didn't do a thing to her!"

Before Hawkmoth could reply, Chat pounced on top of Countess Discordia and covered her mouth with his hands. "Hurry!"

The adult Ladybug nodded and snatched the jeweled collar and crushed it under her foot releasing the Akuma. She cleansed it and released the cure restoring the victims to normal.

The adult Ladybug adjusted her stance and sent the yo-yo out and captured a fleeing Lila. "Where do you think you are going? The police are waiting for you at your school."

"You're not the real Ladybug! Even if you were you can't detain me!" Lila yelled at her.

The adult Ladybug rolled her eyes. "I _am_ the real Ladybug. I just adjusted my look to try to reason with a _distraught _mother, who was akumatized because of her daughter's _criminal_ acts."

As soon as she stopped speaking, she glowed red and returned to her normal look. "See? Now let's get you and your mother to the police. Oh, by the way, Chat Noir and I are legal agents of the French government, which gives us the right to detain you."

Chat Noir picked up Mrs. Rossi and started to head back to the school. Ladybug got a tight grip and also bounced her way back to the school.

* * *

Once they arrived, they saw Officer Roger and his team waiting outside the school for the superheroes. The students and teachers were all in the courtyard watching the proceedings.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir, thank you for saving the day once more."

"Always happy to help. I think Mrs. Rossi needs some support right now," Chat replied as he let the woman go. She was still crying and upset.

Officer Roger was kind enough to escort the woman to someplace private to help her calm down. Meanwhile, Ladybug had released Lila into police custody who had handcuffed her and put her in the back of the cruiser.

Since Lila was fifteen, she fell into the third level of minors. A minor between 13 and 18 who commits an offense can have an educational punishment or, in special cases, criminal.

When it came to the juvenile criminal system in France, there were six key requirements. One was that they had their own court system separate from the adult one.

Second and third. Criminal responsibility started at thirteen. Also, the system was designed to educate not to punish offenders. Teach them why their actions were wrong instead of having them spend time in a detention facility.

Requirement four required parents being informed their child was in custody. Furthermore, the same order imposes an examination of the parents before the decision of the tribunal. Also, before the juvenile's police custody, the service for the legal protection of youth must be called.

Five and six were pretty simple. All offenders were required to have lawyers. Until the year 2002, juvenile defenders were placed in detention centers until they went on trial. Now, they were released into their parents' custody who guaranteed their child would show up.

What would happen to Lila up to that was up to the judge. He could place Lila either under freedom supervision or placed into a legal educational facility for five years. Another punishment might be having to make reparations towards their victims who set the terms.

The last punishment was that she could be sent to a facility for half the amount of a time an adult served unless the judge sentenced her to a full sentence depending on the crime and if her personality suggested she was incapable of accepting responsibility for her crime.

None of that matters right now. All that matters, for now, getting to the hospital to check on Marinette. It took some time for Adrien to get there considering he had to persuade his father and Nathalie to let him go visit his girlfriend and canceling his lessons for the day.

When he arrived at the hospital he was directed to a hospital room on the third floor. After being assessed in the ER and having her stab wounds cleaned out and sutured up, the doctors had admitted Marinette for overnight to monitor her and to see how her injuries were responding to treatment.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Adrien asked his girlfriend. He was glad Marinette's parents had stepped out for a little while to give the two of them some privacy. He opened his bag to let the Kwamiis out.

"The swelling around my eye has gone down and the scratches don't hurt anymore. Two of my ribs have hairline fractures and I've got bruises all over my back and abdomen. I was lucky Lila didn't cause any damage to my organs.

Thankfully, my ankle is not broken just severely sprained. My hair will grow back and I'm lucky that my stab wounds looked worse than they actually were. According to the doctors, Lila was trying to make me suffer not die."

Adrien clutched his fists tightly. He wanted to destroy something or even see what Cataclysm would do when used on a person. Plagg flew over and told his wielder to calm down.

"How can I calm down? Lila could have killed her!"

"But she didn't and now everyone knows the length she'll go. She's finally going to be punished to the full extent of the law," Plagg pointed out to him.

"Plus, Marinette's alive thanks to your quick thinking and Mrs. Rossi is not an Akuma thanks to you and Ning pretending to be Ladybug by playing around with the transformation. Hawkmoth will waste time trying to figure out how she did that. That gives Marinette a chance to recover," Tikki quipped after she finished putting the earrings back on her wielder's ears.

Marinette squeezed Tikki tight and then held out her hand for Stella to land on. The little bat kwami snuggled against her hand. "Thanks for protecting us from Countess Discordia."

"You're welcome. I know you don't want to hear this, but you should feel happy despite what happened. You're alive and Lila can't hurt you or anyone else now. Happy that Adrien followed his instincts to help you," Stella remarked ignoring the glare Adrien sent her.

Marinette chuckled. "I am happy. So many people went out of their way to protect me. They believed in Adrien when they didn't have a reason too. I'm happy my parents don't have to worry about me anymore."

Adrien didn't understand how she could be so cheerful after what she went through. Rather than question it, he sat down next to his girlfriend and squeezed her hand. Everything was going to be okay.


	9. Love

**Welcome to the final chapter in the season 3 trilogy. Many of you have probably guessed that Lila will be taking the place of Chloe in this finale and you would be right. I also want to state here that Master Fu is staying put in my stories until he is ready to pass on his duties of being the Great Guardian to Ning Sun/Peace Keeper.**

** I hope you like my twists to the end of this trilogy. A new Miraculous will be used and I hope you enjoy Flapper the Kwami of Love who plays a big role in the end of this story.**

* * *

It was Tuesday morning and time was running out for Ning. Her flight back to New York was scheduled early Sunday morning. She had yet to complete her mission of either identifying Hawkmoth or make him weaker.

Her superiors would not be happy and she hated to imagine what actions the French government would take if she wasn't able to show them that Hawkmoth was becoming a lesser threat.

An exhausted Ning was trying to wake herself up with some orange juice and it was only helping a little. It had been a long night. Sitting on the table next to Ning, Wayzz was enjoying his breakfast of baby carrot slices.

He looked at the young woman, his future wielder. After hearing what happened to Marinette yesterday, the woman had stayed up half the night perfecting her potion and testing it. It had worked, but he wasn't sure they would still need it considering that the person it was designed for was under house arrest. Ning had maintained that if Lila was brazen enough to commit a crime in broad daylight, then she probably had a backup plan on how to escape.

Fu sat down at the kitchen table with his morning tea. He had creases under his eyes from not being able to sleep most of the night after Chat Noir had informed them what had taken place.

Jill, Arron, and Prickker hovered near him. They had picked up on his emotions and were trying their best to help the Guardian not be overwhelmed by them.

Jill was hanging from the man's left shoulder, leaning her head against his skin. "Please don't be sad Great Guardian. Ladybug is tough and she's survived worse."

The man let out a sigh of defeat before remarking, "She shouldn't have to be surviving anything. A fourteen-year-old girl shouldn't end up in the hospital for an extreme ear infection or a brutal assault."

Arron tapped his horn against the man's fingers. "There shouldn't be a dangerous teenager in the school either, but it happened anyway. You have a right to be angry about what happened, but you also have to realize you couldn't control any off it."

Arron knew the only person to blame was Lila herself. Even with her mental disorder, her actions showed she planned this and it wasn't something spur of the moment idea because of her mental disorder. The kwami also knew while the anger towards teenagers was justifiable, they needed to focus on channeling it to something productive so Hawkmoth couldn't take advantage of the small group.

"Allowing your anger to fester is putting the Miraculous wielders in danger. If you are still angry then focus it on your efforts to prevent this from happening again," Arron advised.

"It would also be helpful to let go of your fear as well. Right now we're vulnerable to attack and your fear could put us all in danger," Prickker reminded him.

Master Fu knew they were right. "I'm going outside to meditate. Would you care to join me, daughter?"

Ning, who was now fully awake, shook her head. "With Marinette in the hospital, I should patrol to make sure the city is okay. I'll also swing by Lila's place to make sure she's still in there. I have a strong feeling she's going to try to escape."

"Don't draw attention to yourself. We can't let on that Ladybug is out of action should an Akuma show up." Ning agreed with her adoptive father before heading out as Isra Santos.

The best patrol is when no one realizes you're not on patrol. Getting on the bus the young woman decided to map her patrols and where she would need to catch the next bus to her next destination.

Her first stop was too well known landmarks that Akumas frequented. Luckily there were no Akumas at the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triumph. Seeing the Arc reminded her of her initial meeting of the Miraculous heroes. She had come a long way since then.

Once she was done checking out the landmarks, Isra walked past other Akuma hotspots such as the TVI studio, the Grande Paris hotel, and a quick glance at the school.

Looking at the college it was so hard to believe what had occurred yesterday. Despite the crimes committed there yesterday, it was still open. "Hopefully, the school board provided enough councilors to help everyone process what happened yesterday. I'm glad Lila's been expelled," she whispered to herself.

Now it was time to check on the girl herself. Lila's court appearance was scheduled for next week after all the charges were filed and the families had time to talk with their lawyers.

Heading over to Fox Burrows, Isra stopped inside a café to use the restroom. Inside the bathroom, she changed out her contact lens for a special pair that not only could record video and she could zoom in by blinking her eyes.

This was going to be a quick pass near the property. Just enough to make sure that Lila was staying locked up at home. Ten minutes later she confirmed that Lila was inside the home and from what she saw through the window the teenager was getting a serious talking to.

Satisfied, Isra headed to the closest bus stop to catch a ride back to the shop.

* * *

Inside the estate, Lila stewed as she glared at the monitoring device strapped to her ankle. Before she was released to her parents, the police had put this on her to ensure she didn't go anywhere until her court appearance next week.

Currently, her parents were in the conference room with her grandparents and the rest of the heads of the nine families. She had no doubt they unfairly disinherited her from receiving any of the company's revenue and she would never be employed at Treasure Incorporated.

She wished she knew what other unfair punishments they were going to give to her. It wasn't like she could be sent to jail due to her age. So what if her dad was of French origin? He had spent so much time in Italy and her mom was born there along with her, so she was an Italian citizen, not French.

The court might not see it that way so she would have to persuade them. Not to mention Marinette was still alive and she hadn't hurt her that _badly._ Really, they were all blowing everything out of proportion.

Why couldn't her mother have listened to her? If anyone had a mental disorder it was her mother. She switched from being stern and fuming to caring and sad in a few minutes. Clearly, she had bipolar and was the one in need of help. "Maybe that's why she didn't believe me when I told her we were criminals. How can she and the rest of the family not see that? I don't understand why anyone would be happy with just being business people. Especially business people who are getting softer and kinder to others."

Lia spat on the carpet not caring what her family thought about it. They had locked her into the suite from the outside as well as making sure she couldn't open any windows. All the rooms that had a door, except for the bathroom, were locked as well to prevent her from taking anything that might help her escape. Her phone, computer, and the flat screen had been confiscated after she was expelled from school.

Her folks didn't want her to have fun now that she no longer had to go to that stupid place. In fact, when she had gotten home last night most of her belongings had been removed from her room, and now inside the family vault, which she didn't know the combination to.

It was clear to Lila that she needed to get out of this house. The next step after that would be acquiring cash, a weapon, and a fake ID. Once she had those things she would cause an akumanzation, stealing the evil butterfly before it had a chance to reach its intended target.

"I know from the Startrain incident that I can control the akumanzation process once I'm outside of Hawkmoth's range. With that kind of power at my disposal, no one will ever get in my way again," Lila said to herself.

That man _owed_ her. She had gone well out of her way to setup Marinette as a target multiple times and he hadn't bitten once. If he wouldn't do her bidding then she would make sure his akuma did.

Now, back to planning her escape from the estate. She wanted to get out of here by tomorrow morning at the latest.

* * *

In the conference room, Simon pounded a gavel on the table to quiet everyone down. Everyone, even Lila's parents agreed to the disinheritance. It was when Simon had asked the other families what other punishments they thought would be appropriate, they all started screaming over each other.

"That is enough! Everyone here wants the appropriate measures to be taken. Therefore there must be a consensus of what additional punishments should be given to my granddaughter.

There will be no punishments based on violence and as I have stated before, I'm not asking my son and daughter-in-law, to disown their daughter! So stop demanding it."

The look Simon gave everyone was fierce enough that they all shrunk in their seats. Nobody was going to protest against what he wanted. Satisfied that they weren't going to start shouting again the patriarch banged his gavel again to draw their attention.

"I understand you want to distance yourselves from my granddaughter. You can all ignore her existence or state that you don't consider her a member of this family. Understood." The others nodded.

"Alright, we'll start with the Canuto family. What additional punishment do you think would be appropriate for Lila?"

Mr. Canuto handed over a list of ideas. "My family wants at least two of these punishments to be implemented. We also need to issue a statement rather by the end of today or we'll be hammered on the news."

Jeanne reviewed the list of punishments. Many were violent, from simply cutting off all her hair to give her a whipping. She looked for less violent punishments.

"I think we can agree that denying access to her bank account and restricting her movements in and around the estate are reasonable punishments. Vino? Do you agree?" Her son nodded and they moved on to the next family.

Mrs. Granncho wanted a written contract baring Lila from ever entering a Treasure Incorporated warehouse or office. After hearing about what happened at the school she was going to do everything in her power to keep people safe from the maniac.

The Chaveo family had only one demand. That all of Lila's accounts were to be examined by forensic experts. It was the only way to be certain there were no illegal funds in her bank account and see what other dark surprises were hiding on Lila's online life.

The Sables and Arcers stated that they both wanted Lila off the property after her court appearance. No matter what was decided she was not welcomed here anymore.

The Andeans, Grise, and Fennel's demands were pretty much the same. If Lila didn't end up in a detention center or prison, she had to go to the long term health care facility Dr. Rocky suggested.

The families put all the punishments to a vote and they were agreed on. Vino and Olivia just sat there. They both were still in shock and despair. Even knowing what their daughter was like it was heartbreaking realizing there was nothing you could do to help their child.

It hurt Simon and especially Jeanne's heart to see their son suffering like this. They knew how much his family meant to him. It was why he remained in Italy so Olivia could stay nearer to her family.

Now all his dreams had fallen apart and neither he nor Olivia knew what they were supposed to do next. Nothing would get better for the two of them knowing Lila's actions would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

After the meeting adjourned, Jeanne insisted they come down to the dining hall to eat with them. She was cooking her son's favorite foods tonight and Simon promised to fetch the best wine from his stock to drink to enjoy with the meal.

An hour later the four of them were all sitting at the dining table to eat. Olivia picked at her food before laying her utensils down. "Jeanne. Simon. We really do appreciate all the efforts you put into making this scrumptious meal. We're just not in the mood to enjoy it."

As Olivia started to stand up, Jeanne begged the woman to stay and talk with in-laws. "I want to shoulder some of the burden placed on you."

Olivia broke down crying again. "Y… you…just... don't understand Jeanne. I failed as a mother. I've been trying for years to correct Lila's behavior. Teach her right from wrong. I feel like this is all my fault."

Vino hugged his wife and assured her it wasn't her fault. "You can't keep blaming yourself. I know you think Lila inherited your genes for a mental disorder. Lots of women go through postpartum depression and go on to be wonderful mothers."

Olivia opened her mouth to reply when Simon interjected. "I recall you telling us no one knows how a person develops this disorder. I'm a hundred percent confident that no one caused this to happen."

The patriarch and matriarch explained they were overly harsh when it came to Lila's behavior because they were trying to push her towards the right path. Help her realize that the world would not bend to her will. They too felt as if they failed their granddaughter.

* * *

Of course, those feelings were replaced by disbelief and rage the next morning when they discovered that somehow Lila managed to slip the tracking device off and had attached to an old stuffed animal. They also discovered she had made off with a considerable amount of cash from the emergency money fund. Worse, they found one of the antique hunting knives was missing.

Out on the streets of Paris, Lila was coming out of a government office. She had brought fake documents to the office to get a new ID. Her ID stated her name was Lisa Siro, an anagram of her name.

She had also dyed her hair to black and tied her hair back in a long braid. She had raided the laundry room before she left and was now wearing one her of cousin's prissy outfits.

She checked her watch. Her family had to have noticed she was missing by now. The emotions she had stirred up would ensure at least one of her members would be out rampaging the streets trying to find her.

"Hawkmoth, you better make the ultimate Akuma, because I will need it for my plans," she giggled to herself. All she had to do was move around the city until the Akuma was formed and then she would be able to track it.

* * *

Adrien was in class listening as Ms. Bustier was teaching them about Civics when an announcement came over the PA system. "Attention all students and teachers. The school is closing right now due to an emergency. Everyone, please contact your parents to have them pick you up."

Everyone was confused. What type of emergency would send them all home? It wasn't an Akuma attack because the alarm hadn't gone off, so what else was considered an emergency?

Adrien called Nathalie, but she didn't pick up. Neither did his father. He texted the Gorilla and got no response. He was concerned but decided to go over to Marinette's home to see how she was doing.

Marinette was surprised to see Adrien, but also relieved. She picked up her crutches and hobbled over to her boyfriend. "I'm glad you're okay. I was worried about you, especially after the police contacted us."

Adrien looked at her confused. "Why would the police call your family? Does this have to do with the school closing early?"

Marinette gasped, realizing he didn't know. "Lila somehow got her tracking device off her and now she's loose in the city. Her grandparents confirmed she has a weapon on her. The police called to warn us because they fear she's trying to finish what she started."

Which explains the school. They didn't want to put any students at risk if Lila decided to get revenge on the student body he thought. They needed to find her fast. "I'm going out on patrol. Hopefully, I can find her and bring her back to the police."

Marinette grabbed his hands. "I can't let you go out on your own. She's too dangerous."

"You're hurt. You can't go out as Ladybug. You need to rest and get better."

"What if there's an Akuma? You're going to need my help."

* * *

While Adrien was trying to convince Marinette to stay home, the anger was growing inside Simon and Jeanne Rossi as they went over the recording to see how Lila managed to slip off her tracking device and get out of the suite that had been locked from the outside.

On the screen, the time stamp read 2:35 a.m. Lila was awake and seemed to be manipulating her ankle. After then minutes of struggle, she slipped out of the room and returned five minutes later with a heavy book and a towel.

She placed the towel in her mouth and bit down. Raising the book high, she smashed it down on her ankle. The towel muffled her scream as her ankle joints dislocated.

Ignoring the pain, she quickly slipped the tracker off and then popped the joints back in place. She bit down harder because only a trained doctor should perform a reduction and it hurt a lot doing it by herself.

After putting the tracker on the stuffed animal, she went into the bathroom and came back with a nail file. It was very small and thin. She managed to stick it into the lock and jiggled it around for a few minutes. The lock clicked and the door was open. She hurried back to her room to grab her backpack, which she stuffed in a bulging file, the left the suite.

At 3:00 a.m. she snuck upstairs and hurried into the private bathroom for the heads of the different families. She emerged half an hour later with her hair black and styled differently.

She made a stop in the lounge to take money from the safe and played around with the display case where the knives were before she managed to lift the glass just enough to grab one of them.

She got out of the house by going to the delivery dock and raising the door enough for her slide under. That part of the house was currently being reconstructed to increase its size, while also repaving the driveway.

She knew that the area wasn't under as intense surveillance as the rest of the house. That's why she used it to escape Simon concluded to himself.

She's out of control, Jeanne thought to herself. Her mind wondered where Lila's ASPD started, and where Lila's motives began. Never in the history of the nine families had there been anyone like her granddaughter.

Unconsciously, Simon and Jeanne locked their wedding bands together as they held each other's hand. Simon had specially designed the rings so that every time they locked together, they would both remember how much love they shared.

Inside his lair, Hawkmoth had been feeling the growing rage and fear from Fox Burrows estate and parents and students. The police were practically on a woman hunt for this girl.

Nathalie came off the elevator with a grim expression. "I've locked down the mansion as you asked. I sent a text to Gorilla to pick up Adrien from the Dupain-Cheng bakery as soon as the new installments on the limo are over."

Hawkmoth nodded and asked if the man had acted suspiciously when he heard what his boss had in mind for the car.

Nathalie raised a single eyebrow before pushing her glasses back up. "I believe he thinks it's becoming a standard for you to adding more protection on the car with all the danger caused by your Akumas, not that he's aware of your identity.

Requesting bulletproof glass for all the windows and having an assistant emergency drive program installed is all a part of the Agreste package deal." Setting her tablet down, she asked him if he had selected a target yet.

"I have. Not only will these two be tough enough to get the Miraculouses, but as a bonus, they'll make sure that the monster is secured and out of the city posthaste. The sooner that girl is gone, the better for all of us."

Nathalie agreed with him. The first time she had been akumatized, she had tried to hunt her boss to death. The second time, she had made the illusions successfully, but the rage of losing her power nearly cost Ladybug's life. Gabriel/Hawkmoth wanted the Miraculouses certainly. However, after the incident with Marinette's akumanization he had sworn to never create a situation when someone could be killed.

As Chameleon, she dared to disguise herself as Adrien in an attempt to ruin his social standings with his peers and teachers. That incident could have hindered profits if people actually believed Adrien had been misbehaving like that.

Lost in thought, she hadn't realized that Hawkmoth was persuading his victims to do his bidding. "Patriarch and Matriarch, your granddaughter's actions have caused irreversible damage to your reputation and business. She should be punished for what she has done.

I'll give you the power you need to punish her. In return, I ask that you procure Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculouses for me. Do we have a deal?"

At the estate, Simon and Jeanne agreed. The black and purple smoke covered their entire body and when it faded away the new Akuma stood in place.

The two of them had been fused back to back with their hands interlocked. Matriarch was dressed in a chartreuse gown with a cream-colored underskirt with strap sandals on her feet. Her facial features were the same. The only differences was her hair was fully gray and she had a silver tiara in her hair.

Patriarch was in a teal suit with a navy colored jack over it. His shoes were short black boots and he wore a gold crown on his head with his full gray hair.

"It is time to put our foot down don't you agree Patriarch?"

"Indeed, Matriarch. Let's get started." The sound of rocket jets hummed under the feet and they took off going straight through the roof and then flying through the air.

* * *

Chat Noir jumped across rooftops and used the zoom-in feature in his baton to look for Lila. "She might have changed her appearance, but this cat has a great sense of smell."

_"Compared to other human's maybe," Plagg muttered in his brain. _

Chat Noir was about to retort when he saw the latest Akuma flying through the air. "Why does Hawkmoth have to attack now? I'm going to need some help with this one."

Meanwhile, Matriarch/Patriarch landed in the middle of the street causing cars to swerve off the road. "Permission to commence facial recognition scan, Patriarch?"

"Granted Matriarch. Let's find our target." There was a hissing sound and the two sides started spinning around shooting red beams from their eyes as they scanned the local populace.

People screamed in fear and panic. Others jumped out of the way as the spinning couple traveled down the street for a few blocks. The Akuma came to a halt disappointed.

"Target, not found. Commencing take over?" Patriarch asked.

"Indeed, my love," Matriarch replied. The sound of rocket jets could be heard as they took to the air once more.

They were halfway across the neighborhood when they were knocked out of the sky by two superheroes who jumped on the Akuma in midair and kicked it to the ground near the business district.

A crater had been formed when the Akuma crashed into the ground. Chat Noir and Ryuko held out their weapons waiting for the smoke to clear. When it did, Matriarch/Patriarch walked out of the crater without a scratch on them.

"Chat Noir, lovely to see you," Matriarch commented.

"Are you stepping out without Ladybug? I don't think she would approve of you going behind her back with Ryuko."

Chat Noir replied, "Ladybugs are beautiful indeed. To stop the two of you a dragon force was needed."

Ryuko nodded and added that they were interfering with an important mission. "Surrender, so we may get back to looking for a fugitive."

The Akuma smiled correctly assuming that the heroes were speaking about their granddaughter. "We seek the same fugitive. We should work together instead of against each other."

The heroes shook their heads. It went against their code to aid an Akuma in reaching their goal. Even when they shared the same goal.

Matriarch/Patriarch frowned unhappily. "Then if you're not with us then we shall take your Miraculouses," they said in unison. The hissing sound was heard again and then the Akuma started spinning again.

Instead of a facial recognition beam, this one was blue and fired a laser at the two heroes. Both of them jumped out of the way to avoid being hit. The Akuma spun closer to Ryuko who used her foil to hold them back a little bit.

She could feel her weapon folding as she struggled to keep Matriarch/Patriarch from spinning into her. She heard Chat Noir shout for her to jump. She jumped into the air remembering her lessons on how to land. At the same time, Chat Noir swept his baton close to the ground causing Matriarch/Patriarch to fall over.

Ryuko darted towards them to get a closer look for what might be the possessed item only to back-flip and side jump when the Akuma shot out and up. She tried not to give in to her frustration.

Chat Noir tracked the Akuma as it flew higher into the air. Once more the red beam shot out of doing a sweep across the city. The beam suddenly tapered and then started flashing.

"Target found and locked on," Matriarch called out loudly.

"Initiate capture mode. We want our granddaughter alive long enough to penalize her," Patriarch reminded her. They zoomed away at high speed to intercept the target.

Chat Noir and Ryuko were hot on the Akuma's trail. They needed to stop the Akuma before someone got hurt, or worse, killed.

Lila wasn't even trying to hide. She was in the open standing in front of a store window glancing around. When she heard the sound of a rocket jet she moved away from the storefront. She easily identified the Akuma. "Grandma and Grandpa. I'm a little surprised that you two got akumatized. I figured it would either be Mom again or Dad. At least I have a chance against you," she scoffed as she tossed her braided hair behind her shoulders.

Patriarch, who was facing her, seemed scandalized by what he was hearing. Laser beams came out of his eyes again burning across the sidewalk. Lila didn't even move as the beam got closer.

At the last second, she rolled out the way so that the beam bounced off the glass and back at the Akuma, who screamed in pain as the laser impacted Patriarch's face.

Patriarch, brought his joint hands with Matriarch up to protect to shield his eyes from the burning sun. "Patriarch! My love are you alright," the other half of the Akuma questioned desperately.

Hearing, the screams of pain, she whirled around and locked onto her granddaughter who was just standing there leering at the Akuma. Matriarch was angry but refused to give in to her lower instincts. "You are being a very bad granddaughter!"

"Please, I'm bad? You never gave me what I deserved! Money, power, prestige!" Lila screeched in ferocity. "I was the best grandchild, but instead you rewarded my skiver cousins and scolded _me_ for doing what needed to be done to get ahead."

Exasperated by Lila's self-center insolence, Matriarch eyes started to glow. Instead of red or blue, they turned yellow. "Tractor beam engage!" The yellow beam shot out of her eyes and locked onto Lila who was soon outlined in yellow.

She let out a yelp as she started being dragged closer to Matriarch. She fought with all she had, but couldn't shake free. Ironically, she prayed the heroes would show up right now.

As if she summoned them herself, Chat Noir slammed his weapon on top of Matriarch's head causing the beam to shut off. Ryuko appeared next to Lila and grabbed her wrist. "We need to go. Follow me," the superheroine stated, her voice colder than usual.

The Italian girl whipped her wrist free and then shoved Ryuko to the ground. The heroine started to get up when Lila stepped on her wrist and got down low enough slash the hunting knife against Ryuko's wrist.

Thankfully, the suit protected her wrist from actually getting cut, but the pain did cause her to lose her grip on her foil. Lila snatched it up and kicked the dragon heroine in the head to prevent her from taking the weapon back.

Chat Noir was keeping the Akuma busy as he looked for the item. He spotted the joint wedding rings. Before he could react, he felt something shoved into his back. The pain was intense and he fell over on his side with tears in his eyes.

Through the blurriness of his eyes, he saw Lila walk past him. She dropped the hunting knife which was covered in black fibers. She had tried to literally stab him in the back!

Before he could process this information, what he saw next made him want to throw up. Lila let the tractor beam pull her closer to Matriarch/Patriarch. When she was about a foot and a half from them, she revealed Ryuko's foil and _cut off her grandparents' ring fingers!_

Instantly the couple returned to normal and started trying to stem the bleeding while searching for their missing digits. Lila got to them first and with glee slid the rings off the fingers before dropping the digits far away from their owner.

She fished for something in her bag and revealed a toy crown which she placed on her head. Dropping the rings, she stomped on them releasing the akuma which she quickly snatched and shoved into the crown. "Hawkmoth! You remember me right? I want you to give me the power to rule over others and make them do my bidding no matter what it is!" Hawkmoth's mask flashed a few times over her eyes.

Across the way, Ryuko had recovered the digits and was holding Jeanne and Chat Noir who held Simon, all witnessed an unparalleled occurrence. The akuma was trying to get out of the crown and fly away only for Lila to shove it back in.

"You owe me Hawkmoth! I gave you the perfect victim again and again yet you refused to akumatized that b**** no matter what I did to her. I won't let you take this power away from me!"

Suddenly, Hawkmoth's mask disappeared. The usual purple and black smoke appeared yet it was larger than anything ever seen before. Another difference was that mauve-colored lights were shooting out of the smoke.

When it cleared away they all saw the Akuma Lila had become. She now looked like a grownup version of herself. Her hair was still black and in a long braid. Her eyes were now red and her lips black. She wore a plum gown with a black bodice. A pair of dragon wings formed a high collar around her neck. Large rounded shoulders gave way to short billowing sleeves. Her corset was laced up with black silk.

Her skirt was long and empire shaped stopping at her ankles and revealing sparkling black heels. On her back was a short cape with an uneven hem connected to the dress. On her head, her crown had gotten bigger and shiner now that it was made out of pure gold.

Lastly, her entire body was outlined with a mauve colored aura, which seemed to be getting darker. "At last, I'm who I'm meant to be! Villainess Queen! Hawkmoth will wish he never tried to take my power. After all, he won't need it after goes brain dead!"

* * *

Not willing to stick around the heroes got out of there and to the closest hospital to drop off the elderly Rossi. They soon rushed out knowing they had to stop Lila/Villainess Queen once and for all.

"Get to the training HQ. I'm going to call up Ladybug and have her get the other female wielders their Miraculous. We're going to need everyone's help with this."

Ryuko nodded and took off. Longg would need to rest and recharge before they joined the battle again. Meanwhile, Chat Noir called his partner and wasn't surprised that she picked up on the first ring.

"I was watching the attack on TV, but the news helicopter pulled away right after Lila akumatized herself. What happened?" Ladybug demanded.

Chat Noir gave her the cliff notes version. "We need to gather all our temporary heroes if we're going to take on Villainous Queen. From what she said, she's planning on controlling everyone in the city."

"Peace Keeper is already disturbing the other girls' Miraculouses. Swing by the Guardian's and get the boys' Miraculouses. I have to go present a Miraculous to a new wielder because we'll need her help to survive this."

Ladybug hurried across the rooftops. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a huge beam of light shooting straight to the top of the sky. All at once, clouds started to form and she had a bad feeling about this.

Distracted she landed on her injured ankle. Intense pain shot through her body.

_"I told you that the suit wouldn't completely diminish the pain. You shouldn't be transformed and running like this, not with your injuries." _

"If I didn't, then there would be no way to stop Lila. I'm willing to risk my health if it ends this nightmare." Clutching the box in her hand tightly she continued on her way.

A few minutes later, she landed on Chloe's balcony. The blond saw her and hurried outside. "Ladybug, what are you doing here? Are you hurt?"

"I'll be fine, I just need a minute. Have you been watching the news?"

The blond nodded and told her that the beam was now spreading slowly across the city and whenever it came into contact with someone, their eyes changed to purple and they walked stiffly towards Villainess Queen while praising her name.

"My father and mother, are doing their best to evacuate the guests to someplace safe, but there are so many and I'm not sure where they can go to avoid being turned into Lila's slaves."

Ladybug nodded in understanding. "The rest of the Miraculous Team is assembling to take on Villainess Queen, but since she knows everyone's powers we need a trump card to turn the tide."

Chloe blinked in disbelief as Ladybug held out a small box to her. "Chloe Bourgeois, this box contains the Miraculous of Etiquette. With it, you can join the Miraculous Team and help put an end to Lila's evil actions. Once the mission is done you will return the Miraculous and never speak of what happened."

Chloe had tears in her eyes. Ladybug had seen her changing to be a better person and trusted her to help in the battle ahead. She took the box and opened it. A bright pink light popped into the air and turned into a tiny pig kwami.

"Greetings young miss. I am Daizzi. I can tell you are from high society. I'm sure you are as impeccable as myself. Please place my Miraculous around the ankle of your dominant leg."

Chloe did as she asked and listened as Daizzi explained the transformation phrase, her power, and weapon. "Shall we get started, my good lady?"

Chloe nodded. "Daizzi, Please Change!" The little kwami dissolved into her Miraculous as the magic took over Chloe. Soon she was standing in her superheroine suit.

She wore a soft pink bodysuit with a black stripe going from her collar down to her hips. Around her waist, she had a black belt with a pink buckle. Attached to the belt was a brown bag. Her gloves were black and elbow-length and her boots were also black that stopped just a few inches under her knees. Her right boot had the Miraculous around her ankle.

She had on a pink mask and the part of her hair that started her ponytail was pink. On the back of the suit was a tiny ribbon shaped like a pig's tail. "Call me Henwen."

Ladybug nodded and then lead her to the training area. For her credit, she didn't complain about the smell from the dumpster as it was moved to get inside. Walking down the steps Henwen's eyes widened as she saw the entire training area.

Peace Keeper was talking strategy with the others when she looked up and gave a wink to Ladybug for getting a new recruit. "Who is your new recruit Ladybug?" Her question drew everyone's attention to the new heroine.

"Everyone, meet Henwen. Henwen, meet everyone." They all said hi to each other. "I brought in someone new to have an advantage over Villainess Queen. What's the latest update?

"Half the city has turned into Villainess Queen's mindless slaves. She's armed them with weapons that she conjured. She forcing them to bring people to her to join her army. Anyone who refuses gets serious injuries," Sirius explained.

"Her power is quickly spreading across the city. It is only a matter of time before everyone's under her control," King Monkey added.

Peace Keeper brought up a map of the city to show what parts had already been taken over. There was fear in her eyes and it wasn't for herself. Judging by Nooroo's flickering charm something was very wrong with the kwami.

Apparently, Villainess Queen had forced her psyche onto Hawkmoth's and successfully displaced his. The man's bond with his kwami was being suctioned away and into her gaining access to the Butterfly Miraculouse's power.

If this continued for too long, not only would Hawkmoth end up brain dead, Nooroo would cease to be corporal. The Butterfly Miraculous would never be able to be used again to help the stakes that high it was imperative, they come up with a foolproof plan.

* * *

Villainess Queen was the toughest Akuma to this date. She had taken over the Élysée Palace. She had taken over the President's private residence after using her powers to enslave everyone, including the president.

Villainess Queen smiled as more pathetic beings were brought to her. This time it was a biracial couple with that stupid baby that Hawkmoth loved to akumatized.

That stupid baby was crying so loudly it was making her head hurt. "Shut that mongrel up or I will do it for you!" she snarled. This is why she hated children.

August's mother rocked him in her arms as her husband kept her safe with his. August's cries got louder. He was tired and hungry.

Villainess Queen snapped. "Get rid of that baby! You two will now serve me!" From her hands, a mauve colored energy came out and engulfed the adults turning them into slaves.

"You two go deal with all the brats that keep coming in. If I hear any more noise from them, do what you have to do to shut them up by any means necessary."

Watching her slaves walk-off turned her attention to her majordomo, Mr. Damocles. "How much longer until the whole city is under my control? My patience is wearing thin."

Mr. Damocles knelt and kissed her feet before informing her all of Paris would belong to her in a little under half an hour. Scowling, Villainess Queen smacked the man across the cheek.

"Unacceptable! This city needs to be under my complete control in the next ten minutes or else. Now get to it," the Akuma struck the man's other cheek. Useless slaves.

Standing up from her throne, Villainess Queen touched her fingers to her temple and focused her mind. Her aura got brighter as she started to suction more of the bond. She ignored the tiny voice that told her to stop or she would kill someone.

After all, the world is made up of winners and losers. Villainess Queen was the only winner and everyone else was a loser. They should take pride in the fact she was even letting them serve her. Their pathetic lives were a thing of the past.

Settling back into her throne she was surprised when Ms. Mendeleiev, who was wearing a jester costume, came into the throne room with a tablet. "What are you doing with that? I told you to practice being comicalness."

Ms. Mendeleiev did a full kowtow before offering the tablet to Villainess Queen. The Akuma snatched it out of her jester's hands and ripped off the sticky note telling her to turn the tablet on

She did and she was surprised to see the tablet was live-streaming the heroes. All known Miraculous wielders were standing side by side as Ladybug started to address the Akuma.

"Villainess Queen, this is the only warning you're going to get. Release the citizens of this city, surrender your possessed item, and turn yourself over to the police. If you refuse, then my team will have no choice except to take you down by any means possible. For once in your life, do the right thing." The live stream stopped and there was a request for a video response.

Villainess Queen threw back her head and let out a cackle. The pitiable, self-righteous, and untalented heroine of the city thought she would do the _right_ thing. She sent a reply telling the heroes they could try but would fail miserably.

* * *

Getting the message, Ladybug sighed and closed her yo-yo. "We're going into battle. Remember to stick with your partner and do whatever it takes short of harming someone to defeat Villainess Queen."

The partners were Rena Rouge and Carapace, Honey Bee and Kkachi, and Bunnyx and King Monkey. Sirius and Viperion had teamed up and so had Street-Rat and Ryuko. The group's trump cards, Peace Keeper and Henwen were not with them because they had a secret mission to carry out.

Staring down at the growing amount of slaves in front of the Élysée Palace. The only way to get to the Akuma was through them. Clasping her yo-yo tightly she told everyone to charge.

With a few leaps, the Miraculouses heroes descended into the courtyard as the two-person teams got to work in thinning the crowd to reach the door. Right now they could only use their weapons and hand to hand combat skills. Their powers needed to be used when they confronted Villainess Queen.

Rena Rouge stood back to back with Carapace. Instead of charging head in she analyzed the situation. There were lots of middle aged people coming towards them and getting closer. They needed room to move.

"Carapace, we need some space!"

"On it Rena." Carapace swung one meteor head to the right knocking over the closest slaves before using the other head to clear the left area. Rena then jumped towards the slaves that were starting to walk over their fallen ones.

With a swift kick and shove from her flute, people started falling over like dominoes. It helped that they were all stiff and didn't have the knowledge to use their weapons effectively.

Honey Bee was making some progress as she lassoed another group of slaves and sent them spinning into the side of the building. "Sorry!"

"Honey Bee, watch out!" Kkachi shouted as she side jumped and brought up her saber to protect her partners back from being speared. Putting as much force as she could Kkachi shoved the weapon back causing the slave to stumble and fall over.

King Monkey spun Bunnyx around in a death spiral. Her metamorphic gel had taken on the form of a rake as she racked people off their feet. Once she was done, she pulled herself up and King Monkey used his Gada to demolish all the weapons strewn around the area.

Sirius's hand-to-hand combat skills had developed dramatically He ducked, weaved and threw a few punches managing to disarm a small group carrying icepicks for weapons.

"Cover your ears, Sirius!" Viperion called out. He then started strumming a horribly off-key tune on his harp. The high pitched sound was painful enough that the slaves dropped their weapons and started to stiff walk away in a hurry.

Street-Rat jumped higher and higher with the help of her jump rope causing slaves to strike at each other. Ryuko would swiftly disarm them before they hurt each other. When Street-Rat came back down she made sure to smash the weapons.

"Are we making any progress?" Street-Rat asked her partner.

The dragon heroine disarmed a few more people before striking their heads together to get them to stay down.

She looked up and towards the entrance where Ladybug was using her yo-yo with her great skills to stop the slaves from attacking. Chat Noir was in a rare form today. He was splitting his baton in two and throwing it around before tackling one or two slaves. His baton would take out the rest and he would repeat the process.

Ryuko turned back to her partner and stated yes. They needed to keep it up as they made their way closer to the entrance.

* * *

Behind the palace, Peace Keeper and Henwen stealthily made their way through the gardens. Slaves were everywhere redoing the entire garden so it would look like Villainess Queen's face.

They had just made their way past the last garden when Peace Keeper shoved Henwen into a bush holding up a finger to tell her to be quite. She scanned the area. They were close to the doors, but to get to them they would have to make a run for it because it was exposed.

As they prepared to run for it, Peace Keeper felt a presence nearby. She didn't know who the wielder was, but she did know which kwami was nearby. "Come on out Mayura. There's no use hiding."

Henwen's head jerked up as she saw Hawkmoth's partner Mayura drop down from a nearby tree branch. The pig-themed heroine reached for her bag of tricks when Peace Keeper told her to stand down.

"We can take her," Henwen whispered to Peace Keeper. Mayura came closer and still the adult did nothing.

"You'll learn in life there are times you need to work with your nemesis to take down the bigger menace," Peace Keeper whispered back. Straightening up, Peace Keeper met Mayura halfway and they started having a hushed conversation.

The new heroine strained her ears trying to listen in. She caught a few words such as; Nooroo, Hawkmoth, and truce. Mayura's Miraculous glowed and so did one of those strange charms on Peace Keeper's necklace. "This duo just became a trio," she muttered to herself.

* * *

In her private suite, Villainess Queen's fingers clenched tightly onto the arms of her throne. Her army of slaves, which was growing with each passing minute, had failed to keep the heroes out.

"I gift them with weapons and knowledge of how to use them and they still fail! How hard is it to kill a bunch of teenagers?" she growled. "GUARDS! REPORT HERE THIS INSTANT!"

Four guards came running into the throne room. Each trying to reach her first and praising her the whole time. The Akuma snapped at them to stand at attention.

The four guards were Mr. D'Argencourt, the Gorilla, Mr. Dupain, and Nora. Villainess Queen summoned more energy and transformed the four of them into their Akuma forms, (she made sure Gorizilla was short enough to move through the palace.).

"Destroy the heroes and bring me their Miraculouses. Don't fail me!" The four of them nodded and marched off. Sitting back down Villainess Queen smiled "Hawkmoth's power is almost all mine. This city is almost my own. I can't be defeated!"

The heroes were making their way through the east wing of the palace when Darkblade stepped out of the Silver Room. "In the name of Villainess Queen you will surrender your Miraculouses," he commanded as he swung his long sword at the group.

Ryuko jumped in and caught the blade and performed a perfect disengage. She pushed Darkblade back into the Silver Room. "Keep going! Street-Rat and I can handle this."

The rest of the heroes took off as Street-Rat rushed into the Silver Room. Whipping out the jump rope, she smacked one handle against Darkblade's chest with no effect.

Darkblade swung his sword in a wide arc causing both heroines to pull back. The blade sliced clean through the swan statues standing next to the armchairs. He swung again and this time he sliced the main sofa in half. "You wenches shall not defeat Darkblade."

"You did not just call us wenches," Street-Rat stated calmly.

Darkblade didn't reply. He just brought up his sword to bring down on the girl's head. He didn't expect her to catch the blade in her jump rope and use her power. "Improvise!"

The rope changed into a large magnet. The sword shot towards Street-Rat, who quickly backed away. Taking advantage of the moment Ryuko moved in to use her power. "Blaze!"

Darkblade was struck directly in the chest by the golden energy. The guard took a step forward as the energy got stronger. It became too much and he crashed into the fireplace as the mantel broke and crumbled on top of his head.

The other heroes had run into trouble as they made their way to the staircase that went up to the President's private apartments. In the Paulin Dining Room, the group encountered Gorizilla.

Even with his diminished size, the only way the rest of the group could continue was if Bunnyx and King Monkey stayed behind to deal with him. Currently, the partners had managed to avoid having their heads taken off by a flying glass table.

"Whoa, keep your eye out for flying objects," King Monkey joked. Bunnyx glared at him before ducking behind a serving station as Gorizilla tore down a rod with sphere lights.

He pounded his chest before he started smashing the chairs into a million pieces. King Monkey's hiding place was destroyed in seconds. He fought back with his Gourde. Both of them were equal in strength.

Bunnyx watched the two brutes shoving each other around destroying the rest of the room. If we could undo Villainess Queen's influence we could gain a powerful ally for our side.

Her eyes then spotted something hanging on the man's wrist. It appeared to be a watch. An idea formed in her head, but she would need to trust her partner to pull it off. Manipulating her gel weapon she formed a conductor's baton. Coming out of hiding she called out to her partner. "King Monkey, let him have it!"

The hero did a back flip and charged up his weapon. "Fighting Spirit!" The outline of his spirit rushed out the weapon and pinned Gorizilla to the wall. The guard kept hooting and trying to push back, but King Monkey kept the power going thanks to his increased stamina.

Bunnyx ran a few feet before sliding across the floor. As she neared the target, she reached out with her tiny baton and tapped the wristwatch. "Time Port!" Hopefully, this would work to her advantage.

The wristwatch glowed baby blue and the hands started spinning backward. The further back it went the Gorilla returned to his normal form until he was no longer a slave. He blinked a few times and then nodded his head in thanks.

In the Portrait Room, Viperion looked sadly at the destroyed paintings of Queen Victoria and Queen Isabell II on the floor. Weredad had already forced Sirius to destroy a few busts and several other portraits.

"Villainess Queen shall rule forever!" Weredad bellowed as he reached up and pulled down the beautiful crystal chandelier. He swung it as a bat and Viperion threw himself over his partner as they hit the ground.

"My calculations say we're over our head in this fight," Sirius quipped. Viperion didn't reply as he rolled his partner across the floor and off the giant rug which the guard had just picked up.

Bellowing loudly, Weredad yanked the rug off the floor sending Viperion straight into a desk. Weredad started loping towards him when Sirius struck him in the back of the head with his baseball bat.

Weredad started to wobble as he stars forming around his eyes. Viperion quickly activated his power. "Tuning!" The melody played catching Weredad in its trap.

Both heroes and guard sat down on the ground calmly. As Viperion kept playing Sirius sheathed his weapon and tiptoed closer so he could use his power on the guard. "Fateful Choices!"

Thirty seconds later Tom Dupain was slumped on the ground snoring and the boys were letting out sighs of relief.

On the Escalier Murat, Rena Rouge and Carapace had been dealing with Anazi for the past few minutes. The girl was an intense fighter and it was hard to fight on a staircase while making sure you didn't break your neck.

"I'm thinking I'm going to have turtle soup with a side of the fox!" Anazi laughed as she launched more spider silk at the group. Rena Rouge and Carapace jumped off the staircase landing near the base.

"We need a new strategy to beat her," the hero remarked.

"I have an idea. You use offense and I'll use defense. I'm sure I can do it this time."

Playing a different tune on her flute Rena Rouge focused as hard as she could. Swinging the instrument forward she shouted, "False Trail!" Anazi was forced to cover her eyes due to the smoke.

When she could see again, Rena Rouge surged forward for a full-frontal assault. "You're going down!" The six-armed lady punched her top fists at the heroine, who dodged to the other side.

Anazi stayed on her toes moving to the other side of the staircase swinging punches again. The two opponents kept getting pushed down the steps only to go higher and higher until they were on the second floor landing.

Anazi reached out and snagged Rena Rouge and held her in a tight embrace. "What you going to do now turtle boy? Your partner is mincemeat!"

"I'm not sure of that." Anazi was startled when the girl in her arms vanished into thin air. Before she could recover she was sent tumbling down the stairs by the real Rena Rogue and into Carapace Shell Guard.

Anazi tried to break free but only ended up knocking out herself. She then reverted back to Nora. Without any guards or slaves, Villainess Queen was vulnerable.

* * *

At the moment, Villainess Queen was in the midst of fighting Ladybug and Chat Noir, while Honey Bee and Kkachi dealt with dredges of the court. The aura around the Akuma was getting closer to becoming royal purple. If it turned that shade, then it meant Hawkmoth was dead and Nooroo ceased to have a corporeal form.

Villainess Queen had a murderous look on her face. No matter how many slaves or energy blasts she threw at the two main heroes it never connected. "Why do you keep interfering with my life?! Everything is perfect now except for you two!"

Chat Noir extended his baton trying to knock off the crown. The Akuma weaved at the last second so he only ended up destroying a priceless painting. Recalling it, he snarled back, "Nothing in life is perfect! Your world is nothing, but a nightmare!"

Villainess Queen grabbed her cape and pulled it off swiftly. She poured a fraction of her power in it before hurtling on the floor near Chat Noir. The cape morphed into a giant shadow chimera. She smirked as she was deeply impressed by her growing power.

The chimera reverberated the whole suite. The lion and goat heads took a deep breath and launched fireballs at the hero. Chat Noir had to side jump and then do a back flip as the snake tail launched forward trying to inject him with poison.

The chimera launched itself in the air and opened its jaws wide revealing razor sharp teeth. The cat hero threw his baton at an angle satisfied it kept the lion head from biting him.

The same could not be said about the goat head who launched a massive fireball that connected with Chat's left shoulder. He let loose a howl as he felt the fire going through his suit.

_"I can hold off your skin from burning, but you have to move now!" Plagg shouted in his mind._

Chat Noir got up and started circling the beast. He took off his belt and looped it. Dodging the snake head he rolled under the beast and quickly slipped the loop part around the goat head's mouth and pulled it tight muzzling the head.

He didn't see the snake head tail whipping around to bite him, but Honey Bee did. She sprang into the air and shouted. "Swarm!" The swarm of bees started stinging every inch of the shadow beast until it died.

Chat Noir started to say a quip only to cry out in alarm as giant energy blast headed straight towards Honey Bee, who was unaware of the danger.

Kkachi kicked Mr. Damocles away and clutched her saber tightly as she called out, "Honor Guard!" The saber replicated a dozen times forming a barrier protecting Honey Bee from the blast.

Ladybug was struggling against Villainess Queen. Her injuries were starting to flare up and she couldn't move as fast as she usually did. Villainess Queen held out her hand and a knife appeared in it.

She lunged at Ladybug who swiftly made a shield for herself. "You are only delaying your death. The world doesn't need someone like _you_ in it." She pressed forward lunging again and again at the heroine she most despised.

That exact moment Ladybug's bad ankle gave out. She fell to her knees, her shield gone. Villainess Queen lunged forward to drive the knife into Ladybug's right eye, only be stopped by something striking her weapon and sending it flying into a fireplace.

Hearing something whizzing in the air towards her hair she ducked letting the battle pass over her. Taking a few steps back, her left heel got stuck in something sticky. Looking down, Villainess Queen couldn't believe what she saw. Her shoe was stuck in a big wad of gum. Pulling her foot free of the shoe she sent a blast towards the ceiling. Parts of it started to come down on the floor forcing all the Miraculous heroes into an adjoining room.

Out of the rubble, there was a burst of green energy as the Shell Guard shield faded away revealing Mayura, Peace Keeper, and Henwen. Even with her being caught off guard, Villainess Queen still believed she held all the cards.

"Mayura, nice to see you. I figured you would jump at a chance to work for me, with your boss about to kick the bucket and all." Villainess Queen chuckled darkly before her expression changed to amused. "I supposed you two are heroes? A dirty pig and a nutcase dressed up pretending to be a secret agent? Ladybug must have scraped both of you from underneath a barrel."

"The only thing that's going underneath is your body," Mayura whispered. Closing her fan, she drew closer and started a heated hand to hand attack. Despite her fragile health, her love for Hawkmoth was keeping her at full strength.

Henwen joined the fight. She didn't have any combat experience, but she did know a few tricks of her own. She darted around the fight and grabbed a hold of the Akuma's long braid and pulled it tight.

Villainess Queen shrieked as she started to lose her balance. Her left hand sent out a blast at Mayura, who was caught on the edge and went flying toward a wall. Peace Keeper managed to catch her before she slammed into it.

With her right hand, the Akuma summoned another knife and used it to cut off her braid. Henwen stumbled as she tried to regain her balance. Spinning on her heel Villainess Queen managed to cut deeply into the pig heroine's right cheek.

The teenager held her hand to her cheek and was shocked to find it covered in blood. Luckily she didn't panic and instead her leg shot out and connected with Villainess Queen's left kneecap.

She wasn't sure if she had shattered it, but it was enough time to make it to the other side of the room as Villainess Queen screeched to the high heavens in pain. By now Ladybug and all the other Miraculous wielders had entered the main room and backed the Akuma against one of the large window seats.

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug called out as a bottle of wine landed in her hands. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Drink to my immortal reign over all of Paris. By now everyone is under my control and I have the full power of the Butterfly Miraculous at my disposal. Time for you to die!" she screeched as she raised her hands. She was going to obliterate them to smithereens.

Only, nothing happened. She tried again and still, nothing happened. What was going on? Why weren't her powers working?!

Nobody except Peace Keeper knew the answer to that. She had finally figured out a method to deliver the potion into someone's body without the target being aware of it. She had given Flapper a sewing needle soaked in the potion. All the kwami had to do sneak up to Villainess Queen and land on the back of her neck before driving the needle into her neck. It was such a tiny prick she doubted the Akuma knew that she had been stung.

With Villainess Powers draining away back to the real owner of the Butterfly Miraculous, Flapper phased outside the palace to unleash her power. "Big Heart!" Giant hearts flew across the city touching each person. As soon as the heart made contact the love they felt was enough to break the grip Villainess Queen had on the population.

Villainess Queen was shocked. This couldn't be happening to her. "NO! I will not let you win Ladybug!" She recklessly charged at the superheroine, who had shaken the bottle of wine so hard, the pressure shot the cork out!

It connected with Villainess Queen's crown which went flying through the air. Chat Noir jumped in the air and Cataclysm the crown setting the akuma free. Ladybug snatched the akuma and cleansed it before sending out her largest Miraculous Cure to date.

Lila was furious as she returned to normal. "You stole my power! I'm going to kill you!" The teenager started to pull out her knife when Henwen stepped in front of her. "Mannerism! Lila, sit down and wait calmly for the police to come to arrest you."

Lila thought that was a ridiculous notion until she felt her body acted on its own accord and sat down with her hands behind her back. She struggled to get up, but her body refused to obey her.

That was the power of Mannerism. It caused the target to mind their manners and do whatever they commanded to do. A nifty power when you were dealing with a rude child.

* * *

In the aftermath of the battle, Mayura was allowed to leave unhindered and with her broken Miraculous because of the oath she had sworn to Peace Keeper. As much as the heroes hated letting her go, they knew she might be the only one able to heal Hawkmoth's mind.

All the heroes were awarded for their efforts in stopping Villainess Queen. The President of France even gave them Medals of Honor for their heroic deeds. Of course, the medals had to be kept at the training HQ to prevent someone from accidentally stumbling upon them.

After such a big battle, training sessions were suspended for two and a half weeks to give everyone a chance to recover. Without those sessions, they never would have been able to stop Villainess Queen.

As for Lila, because she showed no remorse for her actions and actively evaded arrest while working with a terrorist, she was given the max sentence for her crimes. Thirty years for terrorism, one year for fraud, and three for assault. There were also charges brought upon her for her cyber-crimes and her actions towards Alya. There would be added time for several misdemeanors

In total, she would be spending at least the next fifty years behind bars with daily therapeutic treatment in an attempt to rehabilitate her. Only her parents held out hope it would work.

They would also love their daughter. While she had broken their hearts they both knew this what was best for everyone. They had already announced they would doing their best to help the victims of Lila's crimes.

As for Peace Keeper, her superiors were pleased she had stopped a psychopath from becoming an international threat and enjoyed hearing that it would be some time until Hawkmoth fully recovered. With the EMC all back asleep and the city safe, Peace Keeper boarded her plan home glad to know the City of Love was safe for now.


End file.
